some reptiles, and most birds, excel man in speed. The dog and the vulture exceed him in scent; the eagle surpasses him in sight; the lion in minuteness of hearing; and some fishes. in delicacy of touch. To this may be added, that bees, pigeons, and swallows, possess one faculty, if not more, in regard to which man has never yet been able to express even a probable conjecture. All we know is, that bees can wander, for hours, amid the intricacies of myriads of flowers, and yet return to their hives, from a distance of many miles; though their faculty of sight is so limited, that they can scarcely see three inches before them. Pigeons, also, will return to their cotes, after having been taken in a dark basket many hundreds of miles.

That some fishes have a method of communication is very certain; and that some have even a species of language may, perhaps, be inferred from the circumstance, that a skull is still preserved, in the London College of Physicians, of a dolphin, which lived several hours after it was caught, and made a noise, all the time, like the bellowing of a calf. Madame d'Epinay wrote thus to the Abbé Galiani: " I have asked myself, why all animals are born with the perfectibility belonging to them; while the human race labour; from the moment of their birth, quite to their death, without ever obtaining that, of which they are capable." The Abbé answered, "This subject has more than once occupied my mind. It seems to be, that each species of animal has some predominant organ, by which alone it is directed; and that man has all, that belong to him, in a degree, and combined together; the head and thought being the centre of all."

All animals, however, are not born with such perfection of faculty, as Madame d'Epinay seems to suppose: but, like

we draw our breath, unconsciously; we have lost all recollection of the feeble and ill-directed efforts of its exercise, by which it has been perfected; and we are insensible of the advantages we derive from it.-Sir Charles Bell's Bridgewater Treatise.

man, they die without being able to do, or to acquire, all that they might. Circumstances operate upon them, as well as upon men; and they are equally persecuted by fortune. They have, however, two advantages over man :-they commit no crimes; and are, doubtless, unendowed with any prescience in regard to misfortune.

That animals have reasoning powers, few, I think, who have reasoning faculties themselves, and sufficient knowledge of natural history to form an opinion, will venture to deny. Their great want is the faculty of teaching, beyond a certain

extent.

See to what point their labours tend;
And how in death their talents end!
Perfect the bird and beast we find,
Advance not here their several kind;
From race to race no wiser grow,
No gradual perfection know;

To increasing knowledge void their claim,
Still their specific powers the same,
In th' individual centred all,

Though generations rise and fall a.

There is, however, a species of tuition, which many animals are equal to. Old birds, for instance, teach their young ones to sing and to fly; and a long and curious process both of them are; while ants not only instruct their little ones to draw sustenance from the aphis, but to carry other ants upon their backs, and make slaves of them.

That some animals have, also, the capacity to improve their instincts, appears certain: and Blumenbach confirms the observation, by showing, that beavers are capable of directting their operations, according to circumstances, in a manner far superior to the unvarying mechanical instinct of other creatures. That some birds, too, vary their methods of building, according to the materials, with which they have to build, is very evident from what Wilson,-the American

a

Philosophical and Moral Epistles.

b Elements, p. 73.

ornithologist, says in regard to the Baltimore oriole, and the ferruginous thrush ".

Whether animals can actually count has not yet been accurately determined. Condillac believed, that they have languages, proportionate to their faculties, and peculiar to their species. This is certain; but Le Roi goes farther; he says, they can count. Magpies," says he, "can number to three;" and Dupont de Nemours believed, that they can number even as high as nine.

That most quadrupeds have all the bodily senses, that man has; and that many of them feel all the passions, by which man is distinguished, is as certain, as that many even of those, who style themselves philosophers, deny them every thing but instinct. In fact, it is impossible to watch them minutely, without perceiving, that their feelings and passions greatly assimilate with our own; and that they exhibit indications of sentiment, feeling, and active minds. Even insects exhibit fear, anger, sorrow, joy, and desire; and many of them express all those passions by noises, peculiar to themselves.

Milton makes Adam master of the language of animals : and the Deity to speak thus:

What call'st thou solitude? Is not the earth
With various living creatures, and the air
Replenished, and all these at thy command,
To come and play before thee?

Their language and their ways?
And reason not contemptibly.

Know'st thou not

They, also, know

Instinct may be proved in a thousand different ways: but,

b Ib. ii. 85, 6. See, also, White of Selborne, p. 274.

Paradise Lost, viii. 169.

d When we consider the infinite variety of instincts, their nice and striking adaptation to the circumstances, wants, and station of the several animals that are endowed with them, we see such evident marks of design, and such varied

because instinct can be proved, does it follow, that reason cannot be proved as well? If instinct direct a lamb to the udder of its dam; does it not, also, teach a child to open its lips, and adapt them, in a manner, to draw milk from its mother?

Instinct may teach a caterpillar to select that particular species of leaf, which, though it gives no sustenance to itself, is destined to afford food to its offspring: but does instinct only give to a bullfinch the faculty of singing notes, never heard in the woods? Can the child never possess reason, because it has an ab origine instinct? The existence of instinct does not preclude reason, any more than hearing precludes the sensation arising from sight. Reason, in fact, is founded on instinct; as the five senses are grounded on the faculty of touch. Instinct, indeed, appears to me to be the root, out of which all power of reasoning vegetates.

When an instinct is improved by culture, it ceases to be instinct, and partakes of reason. This reason, or improved instinct, is shown by animals, when they perform actions different from what Nature requires them. An animal, therefore, may be said to exhibit reason, when it does something, when taught, which it never does in a state of nature. This power, however, no animal,-as before stated,-possesses in a degree sufficient to enable it to communicate it to others of its species. I saw the dog of Montargis do wonderful things; but he could not have taught another dog, even so much as to lift up his head.

There is an instinct peculiar to insects and reptiles; and attention to so many particulars, such a conformity between the organs and instruments of each animal, and the work it has to do, that we cannot hesitate a moment to ascribe it to some Power who planned the machine with a view to accomplish a certain purpose; and when we further consider that all the different animals combine to fulfil one great end, and to effect a vast purpose, all the details of which the human intellect cannot embrace, we are led further to acknowledge that the whole was planned and executed by a Being whose essence is unfathomable, and whose power is irresistible.-Kirby.

an instinct peculiar to fishes, to birds, to quadrupeds, and

to men.

'Twixt that and reason, what a nice barrier!

For ever separate, yet for ever near.

Reason in man is not always so complete a faculty as instinct is in animals. One would, indeed, sometimes almost believe instinct to be the very perfection of reason; for instinct never errs.

Instinct serves always; Reason never long;
One must go right; the other may go wrong.

a

Pereira's Antoniana Margarita is a very curious and remarkable work for the author, with no small share of ingenuity, insists, that animals are mere machines; having no feeling whatever; and never acting, in any instance, from reflection. Pereira was a Spanish physician; and the subject was thirty years under his hands. Bayle says, that he was the first author who dared to make such an assertion. But in this Bayle was mistaken for that there were some, who maintained the same doctrine before, and even during the time of St. Augustin, is very evident from what that holy father says, in his treatise De quantitate animi. Nay, if Baillet be correct, it must have been entertained even so early as in the time of the Stoics.

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Maximus Tyrius says, that animals delight in, and are guided by sense; they having strength of body; but no understanding: but we must here be awake to the circumstance, that many of the ancient philosophers confounded sensation with reason". Huetius considered animals in the light of mere automata. And

a First printed in MDLIII. You may also consult, if you wish to be amused, 1. La Description Philosophale de la Nature et Condition des Animaux. Lyon, 1561. 2. Amusemens Philosophiques sur le Langage des Bêtes. A la Haye, 1739. 3. Essai Philosophique sur l'Ame des Bêtes. Amsterdam, 1728. c Life of Des Cartes, ii. 537.

b C. xxx.

d See what Vossius says in his elaborate essay, De Orig. et Progress. Idolat. iii. c. 41. See, also, a book, written by a physician of Rochelle, entitled -Traité de la Connoissance des Animaux, p. 261.

e Cens. Philos. Cartesianæ, c. viii.