I N S 
To INSTIL', v. a, lipfiillo, Lat. injliller, Fr.] To infufis 
by drops.—He from the well of life three drops inJUU'd. Mil- 
ton. —To insinuate any thing imperceptibly into the mind; 
to infufe.—Thofe heathens did in a particular manner in - 
flil the principle into their children of loving their coun¬ 
try, which is far otherways no.vv-a-days. Swift. 
INSTILLA'TION, /. \_ivJlillatio , Lat. from injlil.] The 
aft of pouring in by drops. The aft of infufing (lowly 
into the mind. The thing infufed.—They embitter the 
cup of life by infenfible injlillations. Rambler. 
INSTIL'LING,yi The aft of infufing by drops. 
INSTIL'MENT, /. Any thing inftilled.—-The leperous 
inJHlmcnt. Shakefpeare. 
‘ To INSTIM'ULATE, v. a. [from in, Lat. into, and 
Jlimulo, to prick.] To Stimulate; to urge on. 
INSTIMULA'TION, / The aft of urging forward. 
Scott. 
INSTINCT', adj. \injlin£lus, Lat.] Moved; animated. 
Not in ufe ; 
Forth rufh’d with whirlwind found 
The chariot of paternal Deity, 
Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn, 
Itfelf inJlinEl with fpirit, but convey’d 
By four cherubic Shapes. Milton. 
IN'STINCT, f. [Fr. inJlitiElus, Lat. This word had its 
accent formerly on the laft fyllable.] Defire or averfion 
afting in the mind without the intervention of reafon or 
deliberation; the power determining the will of brutes.— 
Thou knoweft I am as valiant as Hercules ; but beware 
inJlinEl-, the lion will not touch the true prince: inJlinEl is 
a great matter. I was a coward on inJlinEl; I lhall think 
the better of myfelf and thee, during my life; I for a va¬ 
liant lion, and thee for a true prince. Shakefpeare . 
In him they fear your highnefs’ death ; 
And mere inJlinEl of love and loyalty 
Makes them thus forward in his banishment. Shakefpeare. 
Nature firft pointed out my Portius. to me. 
And early taught me by her fecret force 
To love thy perfon, ere I knew thy merit; 
Till what was inJlinEl grew up into friendship. Addifon. 
The aftions of brutes, or inferior animals, are faid to 
be direfted by infiinEl ; thofe of man by reafon. Philofo- 
phers, however, have greatly'differed in their opinions 
concerning this fubjeft; and modern authors are ex¬ 
tremely at a lofs where to draw the line. Some maintain 
that man is endowed with a greater number of inftinfts 
than any fpecies of brutes whatever; others infift that in 
human nature there is not any power or propenftty at all 
which can properly be called inftinflive. Some contend 
that brutes are guided wholly by an invariable initinft, 
without the fmalleft power of memory, or of any intel¬ 
lectual faculty; whilfl others infift, that they pofl’efs a ve¬ 
getative foul, direfted by a certain inftinft, capable both 
of reafon, of memory, and of experience. 
The molt remarkable inftance of the power of inftinCt 
-is obferved in the conftruftion of a honey-comb. Bees, 
it is well known, conftruCt their combs with fmall cells 
on both fides, fit both for holding their ftore of honey, 
and for rearing their young. There are only three pofli- 
ble figures of the cells, which can make them all equal 
and fimilar, without any ufelefs interftices. Thefe are 
the equilateral triangle, the fquare, and the regular hexa¬ 
gon. Of the three, the hexagon is the molt proper, both 
for convenience and Strength. Bees, as if they knew 
this, make their cells regular hexagons. As the combs 
have cells on both fides, the celis may either be exaCtly 
oppofite, having partition againft partition, or the bottom 
of a cell may reft upon the partitions between the cells 
on the other fide, which will ferve as abuttrefs to ftrengthen 
it. The laft way is the beft for ltrength ; accordingly 
the bottom of each cell refts againft the point where three 
partitions meet on the other fide, which gives it all tire 
(Irength poffible. The bottom of a cell may either be one 
Vox.. XI. No. 74.1. 
If N S I4i 
plane, perpendicular to the Side-partitions; or it may be 
compofed of feveral planes, meeting in a lolid angle in 
the middle point. It is only in one of thefe two ways 
that all the cells can be fimilar without lofing room ; and, 
for the fame intention, the planes, of which the bottom 
is compoled, if there be more than one, mu ft be three in 
number, and neither more nor fewer. It has been de- 
monftrated, that, by making the bottoms of the cells to 
confift of three planes meeting in a point, there is a fav-i 
ing of material and labour no way inconfiderable. The 
bees, as if acquainted with thefe principles of folid geo¬ 
metry, follow them molt accurately; the bottom of each¬ 
cell being compofed of three planes, which make obtufe 
angles with the fide-partitions and with, one another, and 
meet in a point in the middle of the bottom; the three 
angles of this bottom being fupported by three partitions 
on the other fide of the comb, and the point of it by the 
common interfeftion of thefe three partitions. One in¬ 
ftance more of the mathematical fkill difplayed in the 
ftrufture of a honey-comb deferves to be mentioned. It 
is a curious mathematical problem, at what precife angle 
the three planes which compol'e the bottom of a cell ought 
to meet, in order to make the greateft polfible faving of 
material and labour. This is one of thofe problems be¬ 
longing to the higher parts of the mathematics, which are 
called problems of maxima and minima. The celebrated 
Maclaurin refolved it by a fluxionary calculation, which 
is to be found in the Tranfaftions of the Royal Society 
of London, and determined precifely the angle required. 
Upon the moft exaft menfuration which the Subject could 
admit, he afterwards found, that it is the very angle in 
which the three planes in the bottom of the cell of a ho¬ 
ney-comb do aftually meet. If a honey-comb were a 
work of human art, every man of common fenfe would 
conclude, without hefitation, that he who invented the 
.conftruftion muft have underftood the principles on which 
it was conftrufted. We need not fay that bees know 
none of thefe things: they work moft geometrically with¬ 
out any knowledge of geometry ; fomewhat like a child* 
who by turning the handle of an organ makes good har¬ 
mony without any knowledge of mufic. The art is not 
in the child, but in him who made the organ. In like 
manner, when a bee makes its comb fo geometrically, the 
geometry is not in the bee, but in that great Geometrician 
who made the bee, and made all things in number, weight, 
and meafure. This places in a moft ftriking point" qf 
view the difference betwixt inftindl and reafon. There 
are no improvements made by man, but what we fee car¬ 
ried ftill farther by fucceeding generations; but in bees,, 
and in all inferior animals, we fee precifely the fame eco¬ 
nomy and contrivance now, in constructing their cells, 
building their nefts, laying up provisions, &c. as at the 
beginning; and that in all ages, and in all generations, 
they have neither improved, nor departed from, that fixed 
fyftem afllgned to them by nature for their prefervation 
and guidance: whereas men, afting by reafon and fcience, 
improve from the labours and inventions of each other. 
Were we to attribute reafon inftead of inftinft to bees in 
the conftruftion of their combs, we Should at the fame 
time admit them to be rational creatures, endued with 
thinking and reafoning faculties, far Superior to men; for 
the principle upon which the honey-comb is conftrufted 
is founded on thofe high departments of the mathematics 
which were altogether unknown to the human race till 
the beginning of the prefent century, and which at this 
moment are beyond the comprehension of nine-tenths of 
mankind in the moft enlightened, nations on earth. Hence 
it is plain that the contrivance is not in the bees, but in 
the Creator of the bees, who direfts them, and all brute 
creatures, to aft by an inftinft for their own immediate 
benefit, without knowing the principles upon which they 
aft. And this is by no means contrary to reafon; for we 
daily fee men, working under the direction of others of 
fuperior understanding, toefieft puruofes, and accomplish 
ends, without having thentfelves any idea of either; and, 
, 0 o ig 
