Instinct and Discernment 



time are identical; though the background re- 

 main the same, the details change; the un- 

 expected rises on every side. In this bewilder- 

 ing confusion, a guide Is needed to seek, ac- 

 cept, refuse and select; to show preference for 

 this and indifference to that; to turn to account, 

 in short, anything useful that occasion may 

 offer. This guide the insect undoubtedly pos- 

 sesses, to a very manifest degree. It is the 

 second province of Its mentality. Here it is 

 conscious and capable of improvement by ex- 

 perience. 1 dare not speak of this rudi- 

 mentary faculty as intelligence, which Is too 

 exalted a title: I will call it discernment. The 

 insect, in exercising its highest gifts, discerns, 

 differentiates between one thing and another, 

 within the sphere of Its business, of course; 

 and that Is about all. 



So long as we confound acts of pure instinct 

 and acts of discernment under the same head, 

 we shall fall back Into those endless discuss- 

 ions which embitter controversy without 

 bringing us one step nearer to the solution of 

 the problem. Is the Insect conscious of what 

 it docs? Yes and no. No, if its action is in 

 the province of instinct; yes, if the action is 

 in that of discernment. Arc the habits of an 



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