REASON AND INSTINCT 



ARE instinct," says Falstaff. 



Let us follow his advice here, remem- 

 bering that doctors disagree as to the mean- 

 ing of the word, and that even could we 

 use it as a fixed equivalent for a fixed idea 

 we should still be no nearer certitude of 

 its existence as an entity. 



Certain it is that man has no more data to go upon in 

 judging of his fellow men than he has in judging of the 

 beasts that perish. 



In either case the observer can but argue from the 

 analogy of his own experience. 



A man followed by a dog comes into the room where I 

 am warming myself by the fire, and both follow my example. 

 How can I differentiate between the working of their minds ? 

 What ground have I for arbitrarily saying that the one acts 

 by instinct the other by reason .? 



No ! Into the mind of the beasts that perish as into the 

 mind of his fellows, man can only penetrate by imagining 

 himself already there. 



I have no choice therefore. In setting down certain 

 observed phenomena in the lives of animals I am bound to 

 use the terminology of human life. 



B 2 



