6202 



Reason and Instinct. 



doubtless continues to exist and even to operate in civilized man, but 

 so modified, and under such circumstances of limitation and re- 

 pression, that some of its impulses which are equally remarkable aud 

 energetic in the savage man cease to be perceived or exerted ; others 

 are so checked or domineered over by design or expediency that 

 their power of origination is often obscured or doubtful ; while the 

 remainder, which appear to be the inalienable inheritance alike of the 

 entire human family under all circumstances, physical and psychical, 

 and of the whole or not a few of the lower tribes of animals, are so 

 thoroughly subject to the power of Reason or its results, that we feel 

 ourselves, as it were, naturally led to the conclusion which stands as 

 our third position, viz.. That in a fully civilized state Instinct still 

 survives, but is so restrained and regulated in its operations by 

 Reason that it becomes comparatively difficult to allege any but a 

 very few of man's ordinary actions as greatly influenced by it, or to 

 distinguish between the workings of Instinct and the rulings of 

 Reason in actions which are, according to analogy, originally due to 

 or prompted by Instinct. 



Now, bearing this conclusion in mind, and recalling that which we 

 came to after passing in review the evidences of instinctive workings 

 afforded in savage life, it seems to be a safe inference, that as any 

 given race of men outgrow the pursuits and habits and influences of 

 wild life, and acquire in lieu of them otliers more appropriate to a 

 more advanced position in the scale of human progress, there should 

 be a corresponding and contemporaneous inverse change in the ope- 

 rative power and influence of Instinct and Reason ; that, in other 

 words, in the progress of man from a savage to a cultivated condition 

 Instinct holds a kind of middle standing in energy and active 

 influence. 



Now, it is perhaps hardly necessary to observe that there are but 

 few Nomadic tribes whose habits are simply and exclusively Nomadic. 

 Very generally, throughout the various s.ubdivisions of the nations 

 usually distinguished by that epithet, the men are found to be keen 

 and persevering hunters. In not a few instances they not only em- 

 ploy the dog in the prosecution of the chase, but they enlist in the 

 same service the instincts of others of the lower animals ; the falcon 

 for instance, and a species of hunting eagle. And, in whatever degree 

 they are keen and successful hunters, their faculties show a degree of 

 approximation to those displayed and exercised in so remarkable a 

 manner by the savage in the pursuit of any of the different varieties 

 of his game, — a display so remarkable, indeed, that, as we have 



