144 A NEW THEORY OF EVOLUTION. 



extent be cultivated or developed by man's 

 influence. As Monsieur Fabre proved by 

 numerous careful experiments, the operations 

 of instinct are purely automatic, successive 

 repetitions of the same series of actions, and 

 when their sequence is altered, the animal is 

 as devoid of intelligence to attain its object 

 as a " penny -in -the -slot" machine in like 

 case. 



There is a certain selective faculty in in- 

 stinct, just as there is in the involuntary 

 processes of digestion and assimilation, which 

 indeed are of the same nature as instinct. 

 A bird may construct its nest of different 

 kinds of mud or fibre, and the bee may 

 make its comb from wax provided for it, but 

 the nest and the comb are fashioned the 

 same, as far as the difference in the materials 

 will permit. 



Instinct in Dogs. 



Darwin explains the faculty of pointing in 

 sporting dogs as follows : " When the first 

 tendency to point was once displayed, method- 

 ical selection and the inherent effects of com- 

 pulsory training in each successive generation 

 would soon complete the work." 1 



1 Origin of Species, Ed. vi., p. 210. 



