FIFTH BAY.] INSTINCTS. 



the existence of an all-powerful intelligent Cause. 

 Even in the instance which led to this conversation, 

 the instinct which carries salmon from the sea to the 

 sources of rivers, it is only lately philosophers have 

 discovered, that the impregnated eggs cannot produce 

 young fishes independent of the influence of air ; and 

 thus an animal goes many hundred miles under the 

 direction of an instinct, the use of which human reason 

 has at length developed, and man is supplied with an 

 abundant food by the result of a combination, in 

 consequence of which a species is preserved. 



POIET. I do not understand, Halieus, your 

 objections to the view I have adopted, which is 

 sanctioned by the authority of a good ethic philosopher, 

 Addison. Allowing the omnipresence and constant 

 power of Deity, I do not see how you can avoid 

 admitting his actual interference in all the phenomena 

 of living nature. 



HAL. As I said before, I cannot confute your view ; 

 but, upon this principle, gravitation and the motion of 

 the planets round the sun, and all the other physical 

 phenomena of the universe, would be owing to the 

 immediate action of the Divinity. I prefer the view, 

 which refers them to motion and properties, the results 

 of general laws impressed on matter by Omnipotence. 

 This view is, I think, simpler ; but it is difficult to 

 form any distinct opinion on so high and incomprehen- 



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