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Untitled Article
Nonsense , i ^ is no instin ct at all ; sagacity is not instinct . Again , people call the lower animals " irrational creatures : " this is a libel ; they are as rational as we are , and often ( as Sam Slick says ) much more so . "We pride ourselves on our being more than superlatively rational creatures . We look down upon the various genera of living
beings which are placed under our dominion , and dub our race " homo sapiens" In this we lack both the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove , for we say that which is not true , and by repudiating the guidance of that human instinct which Almighty "Wisdom has given us to supply our lack of wisdom , we become guilty of greater folly ( as we shall by-and-by prove ) than bird , beast , or fish
ever perpetrated in his own proper sphere of air , earth , or ocean . We say we shall prove all this ; but first let us get at the subject a little systematically , let us observe and study nature for ourselves , apart from books and philosophers , who are very apt to clothe these kind of subjects in scholastic armour , which , in addition to being naturally hard and cumbrous , may , in these foggy days , get marvellously encrusted with rust . Now , then , let us take a walk out of school , and have a look at Nature .
Notice the brute creation first : mark the readiness and facility with which every species of animal , from its early youth , provides , first for its own wants and then for the helplessness of its offspring ; and yet the creature seems to have no forethought , no ingenuity , no means of calculating the distant approach of danger . Placed in circumstances of constant jeopardy , exposed to peril and death from
a thousand sources , it is perfectly marvellous that any race of animals , undomesticated , should long escape extermination . Looking closer , however , we discover in these creatures a peculiar faculty , with which they are all more or less endowed , and which , in its nature and origin , is quite distinct from sagacity , or reason , or forethought , or intelligence . This faculty , act as it may , is always securing the well-being
of the animal or his race . Its protective , providing , sustaining power is omnipresent , unerring , and indispensable . Like the fairy of olden times , only more majestic , and even more romantic , instinct presides over the birth , the infancy , the youth , and the age , —the perils , the hair-breadth escapes , the summer activity and winter hybernation , the battles and victories , the migrations and flight , the provision for
defence , for season , and for famine , which every animal , and insect , and worm exemplifies in its little day of active existence . In our domesticated animals we see less of it , but it is ever ready at need . Like the goodfairy , it appears ever at the last pinch , magical , mysterious , incomprehensible—but not supernatural , as she . Indeed , instinct is a prompting , whispering elf in every particular , except only that she
is real , and not fabulous , and always good and gracious , never spiteful , vengeful , nor malicious . Does she not teach these dumb and helpless animals , by suggestions less erring and more wise than the highest human sagacity , how to meet their enemies in battle when really provided with the means of defence ? how to retreat gracefully and elude their vigilance when the combat would prove disastrous ?
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
Nonsense , i ^ is no instin ct at all ; sagacity is not instinct . Again , people call the lower animals " irrational creatures : " this is a libel ; they are as rational as we are , and often ( as Sam Slick says ) much more so . "We pride ourselves on our being more than superlatively rational creatures . We look down upon the various genera of living
beings which are placed under our dominion , and dub our race " homo sapiens" In this we lack both the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove , for we say that which is not true , and by repudiating the guidance of that human instinct which Almighty "Wisdom has given us to supply our lack of wisdom , we become guilty of greater folly ( as we shall by-and-by prove ) than bird , beast , or fish
ever perpetrated in his own proper sphere of air , earth , or ocean . We say we shall prove all this ; but first let us get at the subject a little systematically , let us observe and study nature for ourselves , apart from books and philosophers , who are very apt to clothe these kind of subjects in scholastic armour , which , in addition to being naturally hard and cumbrous , may , in these foggy days , get marvellously encrusted with rust . Now , then , let us take a walk out of school , and have a look at Nature .
Notice the brute creation first : mark the readiness and facility with which every species of animal , from its early youth , provides , first for its own wants and then for the helplessness of its offspring ; and yet the creature seems to have no forethought , no ingenuity , no means of calculating the distant approach of danger . Placed in circumstances of constant jeopardy , exposed to peril and death from
a thousand sources , it is perfectly marvellous that any race of animals , undomesticated , should long escape extermination . Looking closer , however , we discover in these creatures a peculiar faculty , with which they are all more or less endowed , and which , in its nature and origin , is quite distinct from sagacity , or reason , or forethought , or intelligence . This faculty , act as it may , is always securing the well-being
of the animal or his race . Its protective , providing , sustaining power is omnipresent , unerring , and indispensable . Like the fairy of olden times , only more majestic , and even more romantic , instinct presides over the birth , the infancy , the youth , and the age , —the perils , the hair-breadth escapes , the summer activity and winter hybernation , the battles and victories , the migrations and flight , the provision for
defence , for season , and for famine , which every animal , and insect , and worm exemplifies in its little day of active existence . In our domesticated animals we see less of it , but it is ever ready at need . Like the goodfairy , it appears ever at the last pinch , magical , mysterious , incomprehensible—but not supernatural , as she . Indeed , instinct is a prompting , whispering elf in every particular , except only that she
is real , and not fabulous , and always good and gracious , never spiteful , vengeful , nor malicious . Does she not teach these dumb and helpless animals , by suggestions less erring and more wise than the highest human sagacity , how to meet their enemies in battle when really provided with the means of defence ? how to retreat gracefully and elude their vigilance when the combat would prove disastrous ?