328 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



her nest on the twigs of tall trees, thereby placing 

 them out of the reach of monhcys and snahes — 

 i. e., that in each situation she prepares against the 

 danger which she has most occasion to apprehend. 

 Suppose, I say, this to be true, and to be alleged, 

 on the part of the bird that builds these nests, as 

 evidence of a reasoning and distinguishing pre- 

 caution : still the question returns, whence the 

 propensity to build at all? 



Nor does parental affection accompany genera- 

 tion by any universal law of animal organization, 

 if such a thing were intelligible. Some animals 

 cherish their progeny with the most ardent fond- 

 ness, and the most assiduous attention ; others 

 entirely neglect them; and this distinction always 

 meets the constitution of the young animal with 

 respect to its w^ants and capacities. In many, the 

 parental care extends to the young animal ; in 

 others, as in all oviparous fish, it is confined to 

 the egg, and even as to that, to the disposal of it 

 in its proper element. Also, as there is genera- 

 tion without parental affection, so is there parental 

 instinct, or what exactly resembles it, without 

 generation. In the bee tribe, the grub is nurtured 

 neither by the father nor the mother, but by the 

 neutral bee. Probably the case is the same with 

 ants. 



I am not ignorant of the theory which resolves 

 instinct into sensation, which asserts that what 

 appears to have a view and relation to the future, 

 is the result only of the present disposition of the 



