A LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND INSTRUCTIVE FAMILY PAPER. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 



Birds;" "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" 



" The Aviary and its Occupants," &c. 



"the OBJECT of our work is to make men WISER, WITHOUT obliging them to turn over folios and 



aUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING, AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 4.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, JANUARY 24. 



Price l^d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Id. 



"KEASQN"— AS APPLIED TO ANIMALS. 



It has been our good fortune to originate, 

 in the columns of the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 Newspaper, a most interesting inquiry into 

 " Animal Instinct ; " an inquiry which occu- 

 pied some nine weeks in its discussion, and 

 which was then, from a want of space, 

 abruptly terminated. 



It seems, however, that the Public will 

 not let the matter be thus hastily disposed 

 of; and we are called upon to redeem the 

 pledge given, for the due consideration of 

 the " difference" between " Instinct" and 

 " Reason." 



We had imagined our task completed — 

 indeed, the subject had fled our memory. 

 But as it is expected of us to fulfil "a pro- 

 mise given," we have collected our ideas, 

 and compressed them into A final chapter. 

 We admit that the former nine chapters 

 would have been incomplete, without such 

 an addendum.* 



The view we have already taken of the 

 subject of Instinct, as allotted to divers 

 members of the feathered and other tribes, 

 has been, with some few anticipated excep- 

 tions, universally approved. Our great and 

 unceasing endeavor has been, to draw a line 

 between the supposed equality (differing only 

 in degree) of the brute creation and Man ; 

 and to show that how "intelligent" soever 

 certain animals might be, yet were they 

 not to be classed by any means whatever 

 among " reasonable," and therefore, respon- 

 sible beings. We have given such abundant 

 reasons for this, that it were idle for us to 

 pursue such an inquiry any further. 



* We have observed, not without surprise, hut with 

 even greater pleasure, the very liberal extracts from 

 these "Treatises on Instinct and Reason" that have 

 been transferred to the columns of nearly all our Public 

 Journals, London and Provincial— and from them into 

 the American Newspapers. We cannot surely err, if we 

 draw an inference from this, that the " principle" at all 

 events, which we have advocated, is a " correct" as 

 well as a widely-popular one. 



We have dwelt much on the fact — a 

 beautiful provision of Nature — of many 

 " irrational " animals being rapidly brought 

 to maturity. Thus young birds at a week 

 old are, comparatively speaking, far more 

 advanced than a child at four years. They 

 eagerly listen to every passing sound, and 

 eagerly watch the slightest signal given 

 them by their parents. They lie snug and 

 quiet when danger is hinted to them, and, 

 in a fortnight, are prepared to quit their 

 cradles, and see the world ! Herein is again 

 seen the benignant, providential hand of 

 Nature. We need not recur to this : but 

 it leads us to speak of the remarkable con- 

 trast presented in infancy by the human 

 race. 



For a miserable, helpless, imbecile, 

 wretched, and ugly creature, commend us to 

 a newly -born infant ! We contend, and love 

 the principle, that he is " born" so for a 

 special purpose — to mark his extreme de- 

 pendence, and/ws perfect inability to assist him- 

 self in any one particular. For how many long 

 and tedious weeks, by day and by night, does 

 his fond, anxious mother watch over him ! 

 What doubts, what fears, what misgivings, 

 pass through her affectionate, active, and 

 devoted mind, during the long season of her 

 midnight watchings, and daily deliberations ! 

 And what tardy, what distant approaches 

 are there here, to anything like " Reason !" 

 Gaze on the child's face, catch his eye (if 

 you can) and watch his paste-like counte- 

 nance. The face is helplessly vacant, the 

 eye wandering and meaningless, and the 

 countenance almost idiotic. And so things 

 go on for a very long period. The " curtain" 

 may drop here. 



When the infant emerges from babyhood 

 to childhood, and his eye first becomes at- 

 tracted by a glittering toy, or other bauble, 

 then comes " hope " to the parent's relief. 

 She watches first, with breathless anxiety, 

 to see if her child can " hear." She has 

 already ascertained that he can "see." And 

 when, for the first time, the string of his 



Vol. I. — New Series. 



