SAGACITY OF BEAKS. 



may tie imparted from individual to individual. It radiates like 

 light. Its power of growth and improvement is indefinite. 



As we observed before, muob of the obscurity and confusion 

 ■which has attended aU discussion respecting the intelligence of 

 animals, arose from the omission of a sufSoiently clear line of 

 demarcation between instinct, properly so called, and intelligence. 



Tlie great purposes of instinct are the preservation of the indi- 

 vidual and the continuance of tlie species. To plants, which live 

 and die without change of place, the Creator has given strong 

 and clastic tissues to ensure the preservation of the individual, 

 and myriads of germs are put in immediate juxta- position with 

 the organs destined to fecundate them, to ensure the continuance 

 of the species. 



To animals, which are endowed with powers of locomotion, and 

 which are thereby exposed to numerous vicissitudes, God has 

 given instinct to preserve the individual, to reproduce the species, 

 and to perpetuate His work, thus rendering them unconscious 

 agents in fulfilling His almighty command to "increase and 

 multiply." 



Instinct is then a gift emanating direct from divine goodness, 

 and being a gift, and not a faculty, is inexplicable. It is a power 

 inseparable from animal life. Its dictates are as imperious as 

 those of gravitation or magnetism. It can neither be modified nor 

 evaded. The bee constructs her comb in one manner and on one 

 plan, from which no bee, old or young, ever, departs. The bird 

 builds its nest after a fashion as uniform, and by a law as rigorous, 

 as that by which the lilies of the field put forth their blossoms. 



Nor is man himself more emancipated from the sway of instinct. 

 His first act on coming into the world is the instinctive seizure of 

 the maternal nipple. Fear is the instinct of self-preservation; Iflve 

 that of the continuance of the species. 



Intelligence on the one hand is the power of comprehending the 

 consequences of acts, and of giving to them a direction determined 

 by the will of the agent. 



Reason is the most exalted form of intelligence, so exalted that 

 some contend that it ought to be considered as a distinct faculty. 

 It is by reason that man knows himself, judges himself, and con- 

 ducts himself. 



Animals are variously gifted with intelligence, for they are 

 endowed with perception, memory, and consciousness. They are 

 susceptible of passions and aflfeotions, not only physical, but moral. 

 •All the human passions, anger, hatred, jealousy and revenge, 

 agitate them. They are devoted, affectionate, grateful, prudent, 

 circumspect, and cunning. Kindness soothes and melts them. 

 Injury awakens their resentment. The movements of the brain, 



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