ON INSTINCT. 
4‘i.j 
from this industrious animal. These animals make their abode 
between the rocks, and during the summer employ themselves 
in making: hay for a winter store. Inhabiting the most northern 
districts of the old world, the chain of the Altaic Mountains, 
they never appear on the plains, or in places exposed to observa¬ 
tion, but always select the rudest and most elevated spots, and 
often the centre of the most gloomy, and at the same time humid 
forests, where the herbage is fresh and abundant. 
About the middle of the month of August, these little animals 
collect with admirable precaution their winter provender, formed 
of select herbs, which they bring near their habitations, and spread 
out to dry, like hay. In September, they form heaps or stacks of 
the fodder they have collected under the rocks, or in other places 
sheltered from the rain or snow. Where many of them have 
laboured together, these stacks are sometimes as high as a man, 
and more than eight feet in diameter. A subterranean gallery 
leads from the burrow, below the mass of hay, so that neither 
frost nor snow intercepts their communication with it. 
These stacks of excellent forage are sought out by the sable 
hunters to feed their harassed horses; and the natives of this 
part of Siberia pilfer them for the subsistence of their cattle*. 
I have now nearly brought my lecture to a close. Its main fea¬ 
ture has been to endeavour to prove, that instinct is neither 
the result of instruction nor observation, but the action of 
some external agency upon the organization. The only ques¬ 
tion to be considered now is —in lohat this external agency con¬ 
sists. Mr. Addison was of opinion, that it could be only 
accounted for upon the same principle that the greatest philoso- 
pheis accounted for the principle of gravitation in bodies, which 
is not to be explained by any known qualities inherent in the 
bodies themselves, nor from any laws of mechanism, but as an 
immediate impression from the first mover of the divine energy 
acting on the creatures.” Kirby appears to agree with Addison, 
and says, “ If we consider the effect produced by the great phy¬ 
sical power of the heavens, by whatever name we distinguish 
them; that they form the instrument by which God maintains the 
whole universe in order and beauty, produces the cohesion of 
bodies, regulates and supports the motions, annual and diurnal, 
of the earth and other planets;—and if we further consider what 
he effects both upon and within every individual sphere and 
system, throughout the whole universe, by the constant action 
of these viceregal powers, if I may so call them—if we closely 
consider what these powers actually effect, it will require no great 
stretch of faith to believe that they may be the inter-agents by 
* Kirl)y’3 Bridge water Trca^i^^e. 
