M2 
ON INSTINCT. 
gladness in this pursuit; and such a disposition may be said to 
consecrate every field and wood by its presence, and to turn a 
morning walk into a morning sacrifice*. 
In taking a survey of the animal kingdom, we discover a world 
of itself, containing a display of the most astonishing and essen¬ 
tial varieties of structure and of function, difference of form 
and diversity of character. All the earth we inhabit, and per¬ 
haps its accompanying planets, is replete with various forms and 
modes of organic existence ;—each element teems with living 
powers. The whole surface of the globe seems in motion, and 
a busy circle of animated movements and changes is incessantly 
going on : no climate, no spot, no element, seems exempt from the 
presence of living systems; they pervade all. 
■‘‘See through this air, this ocean, and this earth. 
All matter quick, and bursting into birth; 
Above, how high progressive life may go ! 
Around, how wide ! how deep extend belowl 
Vast chain of being ! 
There is something common to all animalsand as certain as 
the phenomena of life are exhibited, so surely is there a motion 
in the animal matter evincing life. This internal and minute 
motion is produced through the medium of distinct organization 
and distinct functions; and we shall discover, as we pursue our 
inquiries, that though these functions are the same in all animals, 
there is an extraordinary adaptation of their organization, and 
that organization not only exhibits design, but a prospective 
design. 
We will take an example from the simple fly—the larva creep¬ 
ing at the bottom of a pool. Now, anticipate its period ;—take 
it up, and dissect it. You will find its wings folded up curiously; 
you will find them supplied with muscles, the muscles with 
nerves, the nerves with a source of energy. Nothing of the kind 
has as yet been put into use; but these things are prospective of 
the condition which the animal is to assume; and the deeper you 
probe this subject, the more you will be convinced of the adap¬ 
tation of every thing to prospective design. 
Take another illustration, to shew the extraordinary adaptation 
of the organization. We have a very good one in the kind of 
food taken by insects at the different epochas of their existence. 
Insects admit of two general divisions, founded on the mode in 
which they take their food, whether by suction or mastication. 
One species is carnossial, or lives on the juices of animals in its 
* Nimrod. 
