CHARACTERISTICS OF REFLEX AND INSTINCTIVE ACTIONS. 527 



continually observed that when the stomach of the Polype is 

 full, its arms do not make any attempt to seize objects that 

 touch them ; so that small worms, insects, &c., which would 

 at other times be entrapped, may now come near them with 

 impunity. It has been supposed that this results from an act 

 of choice on the part of the animal, and that its choice is 

 influenced by its consciousness that its stomach is supplied 

 with food. It must seem improbable that an Animal which 

 so nearly resembles Plants in its general habits, and in which 

 the nervous system is so obscure that it has not yet been dis- 

 covered, should possess mental endowments of so high a 

 character ; and we may find, in studying our own functions, 

 a circumstance exactly parallel to that just mentioned. For 

 when we commence eating, with a good appetite, we may 

 notice that the muscles of Deglutition act very readily ; but 

 when we are completely satisfied, it is often difficult to excite 

 these muscles to contraction, so as to swallow another morsel, 

 even though, for the gratification of our palate, we may desire 

 to do so. Thus we see how much better a guide we find in 

 Nature, for the amount of food we require, than in our own 

 pampered tastes. 



694. The first class, that of Reflex movements, has been 

 already considered in sufficient detail ; but it is intended, in 

 the present chapter, to offer some examples of those of the 

 second and third classes, those actions, namely, which are 

 guided by Instinct and Intelligence respectively. These actions 

 may be usually distinguished by the two following tests : 

 1. Although, in most cases, experience is required to give the 

 Will command over the muscles concerned in its operations, 

 no experience or education is required, in order that the dif- 

 ferent actions which result from an Instinctive impulse may 

 follow one another with unerring precision. 2. Instinctive 

 actions are performed by the different individuals of the same 

 species, nearly, if not exactly, in the same manner ; present- 

 ing no such variation of the means applied to the objects in 

 view, and admitting of no such improvements in the progress 

 of life, or in the succession of ages, as we observe in the 

 habits of individual Men, or in the manners and customs of 

 nations, which are for the most part adapted to the attainment 

 of particular ends, by voluntary efforts guided and directed 

 by reason. Where, as in the examples hereafter to be men- 



