164 RECAPITULATION 



In examining our own instincts we are assisted 

 by the emotions which some of them excite : to 

 the instincts of other persons, and of the lower 

 animals, we have no clue but their behaviour, 

 and our conclusions can merely be inferential. 

 The knowledge that we can gain by introspection 

 and inference is very incomplete. But it appears 

 to warrant us in attempting to classify instincts 

 according to their tendencies, and in making some 

 generalizations regarding the character and extent 

 of their influences. We may distinguish them as 

 impulsive and directive according as they simply 

 impel the organism to seek a certain end, or 

 elaborately direct it in the means of securing that 

 end according, for instance, as they impel an 

 insect to provide for its offspring, or direct it in 

 the detailed steps that are needed for such 

 provision. Impulsive instincts appear to be 

 uniform in general character throughout the 

 animal kingdom : directive instincts vary greatly 

 in different classes of animals. In the lower 

 ranges of the animal kingdom directive instincts 

 are exceedingly strong, and govern peremptorily 

 almost every detail of external behaviour, as 

 well as the processes of growth and the develop- 

 ment and functioning of the internal organs. 

 As we ascend the scale we find their authority 

 gradually withdrawn from the control of external 

 action, until in man they have altogether relin- 

 quished this domain. Their vestiges, however, 

 remain in our aptitudes for acquiring accomplish- 

 ments, and they continue to govern despotically 

 the functioning of our internal organs. Reason 

 is the development of an instinct which guides 

 us indirectly, and not seldom wrongly, by telling 

 us, not that which we require to know, but how 

 we should learn it. Consciousness assists reason 



