282 NATATORES. 



is the very species of knowledge which is so beautifully 

 clothed in allegorical language in the Scripture account of 

 " the fall ;" a doctrine, of which there are gleams in the my- 

 thologies of all the more enlightened nations. 



" But, we find out the purpose from the event ?" We find 

 our own opinion respecting it, and nothing more; and the 

 soundness of that opinion depends on the extent and careful- 

 ness of our experience. If the young grebes are hatched, the 

 eggs have neither been chilled for the want of fermentative 

 heat, nor taken by enemies, and so both hypotheses are 

 equally borne out, and neither of them is to the purpose. All 

 the actions of animals are physiological, taking place under 

 certain circumstances, but not in consequence of anything in 

 the least like forethought purpose on the part of the animals. 

 Were that the case, we should have the unhatched chicken, 

 nay, the chicken, before its grandmother were hatched, settling 

 whether it should be black or white, and whether a March 

 bird or an autumnal one. 



Therefore we cannot know, neither can we rationally 

 believe, anything of purpose or forethought in animals ; and 

 when we incautiously express ourselves to that effect, we, 

 in truth, do nothing more than put ourselves in the stead 

 of the animal, and reason how we should have planned 

 and conducted matters, if placed under the same circum- 

 stances. 



Nay, when we consider the matter, there is no forethought 

 even in us ; for though we form plans for future execution, 

 those plans are all made up of that which has been previously 

 known and experienced ; or if they are not, the chances are 

 greatly against the probability of their execution. Though 

 endowed with mind, we have no knowledge of the future, 

 except from its presumed similarity to the past ; and, unless 

 we are taught, we display little, if anything, beyond animal 

 instincts. But the animal acts without any example or in- 



