he thing further, and take for granted the most
wonderful instances that are given of the skill and forecast of
animals. Let us admire, as much as you please, the certainty with
which a hound takes a spring into a third way, as soon as he finds
by his nose that the game he pursues has left no scent in the other
two. Let us admire the hind, who, they say, throws a good way off
her young fawn, into some hidden place, that the hounds may not find
him out by the scent of his strain. Let us even admire the spider
who with her cobwebs lays subtle snares to trap flies, and fall
unawares upon them before they can disentangle themselves. Let us
also admire the hern, who, they say, puts his head under his wing,
in order to hide his bill under his feathers, thereby to stick the
breast of the bird of prey that stoops at him. Let us allow the
truth of all these wonderful instances of rationality; for all
nature is full of such prodigies. But what must we infer from them?
In good earnest, if we carefully examine the matter, we shall find
that they prove too much. Shall we say that animals are more
rational than we? Their instinct has undoubtedly more certainty
than our conjectures. They have learnt neither logic nor geometry,
neither have they any course or method of improvement, or any
science. Whatever they do is done of a sudden without study,
preparation, or deliberation. We commit blunders and mistakes every
hour of the day after we have a long while argued and consulted
together; whereas animals, without any reasoning or premeditation,
perform every hour what seems to require most discernment, choice,
and exactness. Their instinct is in many things infallible; but
that word instinct is but a fair name void of sense. For what can
an instinct more just, exact, precise, and certain than reason
itself mean but a more perfect reason? We must therefore suppose a
wonderful reason and understanding either in the work or in the
artificer; either in the machine or in him that made it. When, for
instance, I find that a watch shows the hours with such exactness as
surpasses my knowledge, I presently conclude that if the watch
itself does not reason, it must have been made by an artificer who,
in that particular, reasoned better and had more skill than myself.
In like manner, when I see animals, who every moment perform actions
that argue a more certain art and industry than I am master of, I
immediately conclude that such ma