INSTINCTS. 169 



they are actually found to be. Without re- 

 ferring the instincts of animals to the immediate 

 impulse of the Deity, they appear to me to 

 offer the most irresistible and convincing ar- 

 gument that can be brought forward against 

 atheism. They demonstrate combinations, the 

 result of the most refined intelligence, which 

 can only be considered as infinite. Take any 

 one of the lowest class of animals, insects for 

 instance, not only is their organization fitted 

 to all their wants; but their association in 

 society is provided for, and the laws of a per- 

 fect social community, as it were, are adopted 

 by beings, that we are sure cannot reason. In 

 the hive bee, for instance, the instinct of the 

 workers leads them to adopt and obey a queen ; 

 and if she is taken away from them, or dies, 

 they have the power of raising another from 

 offspring in the cells by an almost miraculous 

 process : they work under her government for 

 a common object, allow males only to exist for 

 the purpose of impregnating females, who pre- 

 serve the society, and under whose govern- 

 ment they send forth swarms, which readily 

 place themselves under the protection of man. 



