Part 18 (2/2)
”The difference is very great, William, as I will explain to you; but I must first observe, that it has been the custooverned by reason, and animals by instinct, alone This is an error Man has instinct as well as reason; and ani powers”
”In what points does man show that he is led by instinct?”
”When a child is first born, Willia powers are not yet developed; as we grow up, our reason becoains the mastery over our instinct, which decreases in proportion”
”Then e have grown to a good old age, I suppose we have no instinct left in us?”
”Not so, my dear boy; there is one and a most powerful instinct irave It is the fear, not of death, but of utter annihilation, that of beco could not have been so deeply implanted in us, but as an assurance that we shall not be annihilated after death, but that our souls shall still exist, although our bodies shall have perished It may be termed the instinctive evidence of a future existence”
”That is very true, Mr Seagrave,” observed Ready
”Instinct in ani which coht or reflection; this instinct is in full force at the inning, and has never varied The s built her nest, the spider its web, the bee foro, as they do now I reatest wonders of instinct is the mathematical form of the honeycomb of the bee, which has been proved by dereatest possible saving of time and labour”
”But that is all pure instinct, papa; now you said that ani powers Will you point out to me how they show that they have?”
”I will,It is now ti day, being Sunday, was devoted to the usual religious exercises To a ser on the fire; however, Juno suspected hi the lid off the pot He ell scolded, and very htened lest he should have no soup for his dinner; however, as it was not a very heavy offence, he was forgiven
In the evening, William requested his father to renew the conversation about the reasoning powers of anirave; ”it is a fit discourse for a Sunday evening Let us, however, first examine the various mental faculties discoverable in animals In the first place, they have memory, especially memory of persons and places, quite as tenacious as our own A dog will recognize an old ain escaped into the woods, after twenty years renized his oldwill find his way back when taken more than a hundred miles from his master's residence Another proof of memory in animals, were it required, is that they dream Now, a dream is a confused recollection of past events; and how often do you not hear Ro in their sleep!”
”Very true, papa”
”Well, then, they have attention See how patiently a cat will remain for hours before a hole, in watch for thefor the fly to enter its web; but this quality is to be observed in every animal in the pursuit of its prey They have also association of ideas, which is, in fact, reasoning A dog proves that; he will allow a gentlear When he is in charge of any property he will take no notice of a passer-by; but if a man stops, he barks immediately In the elephant this association of ideas is even more remarkable; indeed, he understands what is said to hi powers are most extraordinary Promise him rewards, and he will make wonderful exertion He is also extremely alive to a sense of shame The elephants were employed to transport the heavy artillery in India One of the finest atteh a swa another' The ani with the reproach, that it used so un on with its head, as to fracture its skull, and it fell dead When Chunee, the elephant which was so long in Exeter Change, was ordered as usual to take up a sixpence with his trunk, it happened one day that the sixpence rolled against the skirting-board, out of his reach Chunee stopped, and reflected a little while, and then, drawing the air into his trunk, he threw it out with all his force against the skirting-board; the rebound of the air fro-board blew the sixpence towards him, and he was enabled to reach it”
”That was very clever of hiht, with a knowledge of cause and effect There was a curious instance of a horse, which, by the bye, I consider the most noble animal of creation, which was ridden round by his master, to deliver newspapers He invariably stopped at the doors where papers were to be left; but it happened that two people, living at different houses, took in a weekly newspaper between the of it on one week, and the other on the following After a short tiement, and stopped at the one house on the one week, and at the other house on the following, never acious animal he must have been!” observed Willia instruction, which is another proof of reasoning powers The elephant, the horse, the dog, the pig, even birds reat deal”
”But then, papa, I still wish to knohere the line is to be drawn between reason and instinct”
”I was about to come to that very point, Willia their food, bringing up their young, and in their precautions against danger, they follow certain fixed rules, froainst which their instinct can afford the powers are called into action I will explain this by stating a fact relative to the bee, one of the animals upon which instinct is e moth, called the Death's-head moth, which is very fond of honey It soh the aperture of the hive, and gain an entrance The bees is; but the carcass is so large, that they cannot carry it out of the hive, as they invariably do the bodies of the smaller insects which may have intruded, and it appears that their sense of smell is very acute What, then, do they do to avoid the stench arising froeit entirely ax, by which it no longer becoht not their instinct have provided for such an event?” observed William
”If such an event could have occurred to the bees in their wild state, you certainly ht have raised the question; but recollect, William, that bees in their wild state live in the hollows of trees, and that the hole by which they enter is never e to ader than a bee could gain entrance, and if it did, could of course have been easily removed from the hive; but the bees were here in a new position, in an artificial state, in a hive of straith a large aperture, and therefore ence they were not prepared for, and acted accordingly”
”Yes, papa, I perceive the difference”
”I will conclude my observations with one reht proper to vary the intellectual and the reasoning powers of animals in the same way that he has varied the species and the forement he has not been unmindful of the interest and welfare ofpowers are chiefly, if not wholly, given to those animals which man subjects to his service and for his use - the elephant, the horse, and the dog; thereby iven to them are at the service and under the control of , Willia round the various articles froed that they were not to return till the Saturday evening, and that the dog Reence of the the week, and on Saturday they had completed their task; with the exception of a portion of the tiht round, but had not been carried up to the storehouse, as that required , they went for the last time to the cove, and Ready selected so on the beach, part of which they put into the boat, and the reh the as fair to sail hack again to the bay, the boat went but slowly through the water
”Well, Williaood week's work, and I h time that it is done; for the boat is in rather a crazy condition, and I must contrive to patch her up by and by, when there is time”
”We shall not want to use her very much after this, Ready,” replied William; ”a few trips round to the little harbour will be all that will be required before we coain to our old quarters”
”That's true, Williaive her a coat of pitch as soon as possible For a slight-built little thing as she is, she has done hard duty”
”Pray, Ready, hen you speak of a shi+p or boat, do you always call it she?”
”Well, William, I don't knohy, but it is certain that we sailors always do so I believe it is because a sailor loves his shi+p His shi+p is his wife, is a very co with us; and then you see, Master Willia of life in appearance I believe that's the reason, and of course if a vessel is she, a little boat must be a she also”
”Well, I think you have explained it very well, Ready I suppose on Monday we shall set to at the storehouse, and alter it for our future residence?”
”Can't begin too soon, Williarave has finished the hedge and ditch round the yams by this time, and if so, I expect Madam will not like to be left in the tents alone with Juno and the children, and so we shall all ain until we have altered the storehouse; I must say that I would rather your mamma remained in the tents until all was finished”
”Because you are afraid of a visit froes, Ready?”
”I am, sir, and that's the truth”
”But, Ready, if they do co, and would it not be better that we should all be together, even if we are obliged to conceal ourselves in consequence of not being prepared? Suppose the savages were to overrun the island, and find my mother, my little brother, and sister, defenceless, at the tied to retreat from our house; how dreadful that would be!”
”But I counted upon retreating to the tents”
”So we can all together, unless we are surprised in the night”
”That we must take care not to be There's not three hours' dark in this season of the year Well, Williaht, and if they are all with us, Juno will be a great help, and we shall get through our work the faster”
”We had better let the question be decided by my father and mother”
”Very true, William; here's the point at last We will haul the timber on the beach, and then be off as fast as we can, for it is getting late”
It was, indeed, much later than they had usually arrived at the little harbour, owing to the heavy load, whichround from the cove; and when they pulled in, they found Mr and Mrs Seagrave and the children all waiting for them