PSYCHICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE 181

a carrion plant instead of on real carrion. Even an elephant,

an animal often thought so extremely wise, has been known

to be so extremely stupid as to pull off the end of its trunk

(which had got caught in a cord) instead of calling for help

and waiting till its keeper came.

But in truth animals merit no such reproach, for, of course,

they cannot make use of faculties they do not possess, while

they make, as a rule, an admirable and excellent use of

those non-intellectual faculties wherewith they are actually

endowed.

We venture to think the facts and anecdotes we have here

considered are sufficient for our purpose ; but certain alleged

cases of sign-making on the part of animals will be noticed

in our next chapter on science and language.

In the preceding chapter we cited various instances of the

high degree to which the faculty known as "instinct" may

be developed as so many physical facts. In the present

chapter we propose to deal with instinct as a feeling^ and

consider the question as to what may be its true nature.

We have seen * that it exists unmistakably in man, though

it is but very poorly developed in him compared with what

we find existing in many of the lower animals, notably

insects. \

Of course we are unconscious of the performance of our

own instinctive actions, and the essence of instinct is that

its acts should be performed blindly. But by observation,

reflexion, and reasoning, we can be very sure that we have

performed that we must have performed certain instinctive

actions in early life. What ground, then, can there be to

suppose that such instinctive actions of animals as we have

hereinbefore described, are accompanied by anything more

than feelings such as unconsciously exist in the human

infant ?

See ante, pp. 127, 128. t See ante, pp. 129-131.

a carrion plant instead of on real carrion. Even an elephant,

an animal often thought so extremely wise, has been known

to be so extremely stupid as to pull off the end of its trunk

(which had got caught in a cord) instead of calling for help

and waiting till its keeper came.

But in truth animals merit no such reproach, for, of course,

they cannot make use of faculties they do not possess, while

they make, as a rule, an admirable and excellent use of

those non-intellectual faculties wherewith they are actually

endowed.

We venture to think the facts and anecdotes we have here

considered are sufficient for our purpose ; but certain alleged

cases of sign-making on the part of animals will be noticed

in our next chapter on science and language.

In the preceding chapter we cited various instances of the

high degree to which the faculty known as "instinct" may

be developed as so many physical facts. In the present

chapter we propose to deal with instinct as a feeling^ and

consider the question as to what may be its true nature.

We have seen * that it exists unmistakably in man, though

it is but very poorly developed in him compared with what

we find existing in many of the lower animals, notably

insects. \

Of course we are unconscious of the performance of our

own instinctive actions, and the essence of instinct is that

its acts should be performed blindly. But by observation,

reflexion, and reasoning, we can be very sure that we have

performed that we must have performed certain instinctive

actions in early life. What ground, then, can there be to

suppose that such instinctive actions of animals as we have

hereinbefore described, are accompanied by anything more

than feelings such as unconsciously exist in the human

infant ?

See ante, pp. 127, 128. t See ante, pp. 129-131.