INSTINCT AND EEASON. 
121 
varieties in plants have a tendency to return to their original 
species, so it was shown that the acquired habits had a tendency to 
return to the instincts common to their class. 
The characteristics of intelligent actions as compared with in- 
stinctive were shown — 1st, in the variety of means exercised to 
attain the same end, not only by different animals at the same 
time, but by successive generations ; 2nd, in their power of being 
modified by education ; 3rd, in their power of adapting themselves 
to circumstences. 
An anatomical review showed that the amount of intelligence 
bore an exact relationship to the quantity and arrangement of the 
true brain, only the first elements of which were found amongst 
the highest invertebrata. 
Intelligence was found to diff'er in animals and in man. In the 
former, all the evidences of intelligence linked themselves to one 
of the special senses which was usually acutely developed ; and it 
was owing to the law of association of ideas that their wonderful 
manifestations of reason were dependent. In the case of domestic 
animals, such as horses and dogs, we find that their constant con- 
tact with man has enabled them to reflect a little of his reason. 
In man alone is a power of self - consciousness, and a power of 
dealing with matters above sense ; and to this form of intelligence 
the term reason is properly limited. A comparison of instinctive 
action with those performed by man, rendered it evident that the 
former manifested far more unhesitating wisdom than the latter ; 
and the lecture was concluded by a discussion of the question 
whether the brain in individualizing reason increased or diminished 
its manifestations. 
To the Editor of the Journal of the Plymouth Institution. 
Sir, — Dr. Hingston closed the discussion on his paper on 
Instinct and Reason" by stating that no instance of reasoning 
had been recorded in animals below the vertebrata; that is, in 
animals where a true brain does not exist. 
The following has been published : — I think it was in Fal- 
mouth harbour that a fisherman observed a lobster, in the clear 
water beneath his boat, several times approach an oyster, and 
endeavoured to insert his claws within its shell. At each attempt 
