Instinct and Discernment 



form their task despite its futility. Are they 

 then machines? Far be it from me to think 

 anything so foolish. 



It is impossible to make definite progress 

 on the shifting sands of contradictory facts: 

 each step in our interpretation may find us 

 embogged. And yet these facts speak so 

 loudly that I do not hesitate to translate their 

 evidence as I understand it. In insect men- 

 tality, we have to distinguish two very differ- 

 ent domains. One of these is instinct pro- 

 perly so-called, the unconscious impulse that 

 presides over the most wonderful part of what 

 the creature achieves. Where experience and 

 imitation are of absolutely no avail, instinct 

 lays down its inflexible law. It is instinct and 

 instinct alone that makes the mother build 

 for a family which she will never see; that 

 counsels the storing of provisions for the un- 

 known offspring; that directs the sting to- 

 wards the nerve-centres of the prey and skil- 

 fully paralyses it, so that the game may keep 

 good; that instigates, in fine, a host of ac- 

 tions wherein shrewd reason and consummate 

 science wouKl have their part, were the crea- 

 ture acting through discernment. 



This faculty is perfect of its kind from the 



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