by the Tail--Horse Gored by a Buffalo--Sagacity of
Dogs--"Bluebeard"--His Hunt--A True Hound.

There can be no doubt that man is not the only animal endowed with
reasoning powers: he possesses that faculty to an immense extent, but
although the amount of the same power possessed by animals may be
infinitely small, nevertheless it is their share of reason, which they
occasionally use apart from mere instinct.

Although instinct and reason appear to be closely allied, they are
easily separated and defined.

Instinct is the faculty with which Nature has endowed all animals for
the preservation and continuation of their own species. This is
accordingly exhibited in various features, as circumstances may call
forth the operation of the power; but so wonderful are the attributes
of Nature that the details of her arrangements throughout the animal
and insect creation give to every class an amount of sense which in
many instances surmounts the narrow bounds of simple instinct.

The great characteristic of sheer instinct is its want of progression;
it never increases, never improves. It is possessed now in the
nineteenth century by every race of living creatures in no larger
proportion than was bestowed upon them at the creation.

In general, knowledge increases like a rolling snowball; a certain
amount forms a base for extra improvement, and upon successive
foundations of increasing altitude the eminence has been attained of
the present era. This is the effect of "reason;" but "instinct,"
although beautiful in its original construction, remains, like the
blossom of a tree, ever the same--a limited effect produced by a given
cause; an unchangeable law of Nature that certain living beings shall
perform certain functions which require a certain amount of
intelligence; this amount is supplied by Nature for the performance of
the duties required; this is instinct.

Thus, according to the requirements necessitated by the habits of
certain living creatures to an equivalent amount is their share of
instinct. Reason differs from instinct as combining the effects of
thought and reflection; this being a proof of consideration, while
instinct is simply a direct emanation from the brain, confined to an
impulse.

In our observations of Nature, especially in tropical countries, we see
numberless exemplifications of these powers, in some of which the
efforts of common instinct halt upon the extreme boundary and have
almost a tin