FATHER. It is true the rabbit cannot do these things; but then she is quite independent of them, for she answers all the purposes of her existence perfectly well without their assistance. Richard, can you give us a more accurate account of the difference between Man and Animals? RICHARD. I suppose, papa, the chief difference is our having reason, and they only instinct. FATHER. But in order to understand what we mean by the terms reason and instinct, I think three things may be mentioned, in which the difference very distinctly appears. RICHARD. What are they, papa? FATHER. Let us first, to bring the parties as nearly on a level as possible, consider man in a savage state, wholly occupied, like the beasts of the field, in providing for the wants of his animal nature; and here the first distinction that appears between him and the creatures around him, is, the use of implements. RICHARD. Ah, I should never have thought of that. FATHER. When the savage provides himself with a hut, or a crawl, or a wigwam, for shelter, or that he may store up his provision, he does no more than is done by the rabbit, the beaver, the bee, and birds of every species. But the man cannot make any progress in this work without something like tools, however rude and simple in their form: he must provide himself with an axe, even before he can lop down a tree for its timber; whereas these animals form their burrows, their cells, or their nests, with the most mathematical nicety, with no other tools than those with which nature has provided them. In culti vating the ground, also, man can do nothing without a spade, or a plough; nor can he reap what he has sown, till he has shaped an instrument, Iwith which to cut down his harvests. But the animals provide for themselves and their young without any of these things. EDWARD. Then, here again, the animals are the best off. FATHER. That is not our present inquiry: now for the second distinction: Man, in all his operations makes mistakes, animals make none. EDWARD. Do animals never make mistakes? FATHER. Why, Edward, did you ever see such a thing, or hear of such a thing, as a little bird sitting disconsolate on a twig, lamenting over her half finished nest, and puzzling her little poll to know how to complete it? Did you ever see the cells of a bee-hive in clumsy irregular shapes, or observe any thing like a discussion in the little community, as if there was a difference of opinion amongst the architects? The boys laughed, and owned they had never heard of such a thing. FATHER. Animals are even better physicians than we are, for when they are ill, they will, many of them, seek out some particular herb, which they do not use as food, and which possesses a medicinal quality exactly suited to the complaint. Whereas, the whole College of Physicians will dispute for a century, and not at last agree upon the virtues of a single drug. Man undertakes nothing in which he is not more or less puzzled: he must try numberless experiments before he can bring his undertakings to any thing like perfection; and these experiments imply a succession of mistakes. Even the simplest operations of domestic life are not well performed without some experience; and the term of man's life is half wasted, before he has done with his mistakes, and begins to profit by his lessons. EDWARD. Then, papa, how is it? for after all we are better than animals. FATHER. Observe, then, our third distinction, which is, that animals make no improvements: while the knowledge, and the skill, and the success of man are perpetually on the increase. The inventions and discoveries of one generation, are, through the medium of literature, handed down to succeeding ones; so that the accumulated experience of all former ages and nations is ready for our use, before we begin to think and act for ourselves. The result of which is, that the most learned and ingenious amongst the ancient philosophers, Aristotle, or Archimedes, might learn in an hour, from a modern school boy, more than the laborious study of their lives could enable them to discover. RICHARD. Well, I am glad we have thought of something at last, to prove that men are wiser than rabbits. FATHER. Herein appears the difference between what we call instinct and reason. Animals, in all their operations, follow the first impulse of nature, or that invariable law which God has implanted in them. In all they do undertake, therefore, their works are more perfect and regular than those of men. But man, having been endowed with the faculty of thinking or reasoning about what he does, although (being an imperfect and fallible creature) this liberty exposes him to mistake, and is perpetually leading him into error; yet by patience, perseverance, and industry, and by long experience, he at last achieves what angels may, perhaps, behold with admiration. A bird's nest, is, indeed, a perfect and beautiful structure; yet the nest of a swallow of the nineteenth century, is not at all more commodious, or elegant, than those that were built amid the rafters of Noah's ark. But if we compare (I will not say Adam's bower, for that was doubtless in the finest style of nature's own architecture) but if we compare the wigwam of the North American Indian, with the temples and palaces of ancient Greece and Rome, we then shall see to what man's mistakes, rectified and improved upon, conduct him. Animals can provide for their wants, and for those of their offspring, with the utmost adroitness; and just so much, and no more, did their antediluvian ancestry: while man, after having provided for his first necessities, emerging gradually from the savage state, begins to cultivate poetry and music, proceeds to the knowledge of arts and sciences, unknown and unthought of by his rude forefathers, till (in humble imitation of the works of God himself) he gives exquisite construction to the rudest materials which nature has left for his use; supplying those artificial wants and wishes, for which it was beneath her dignity to provide; and while his hand thus executes all that is ingenious and beautiful, his thought glances at all that is magnificent and sublime. XXVII THE WORM AND THE SNAIL. A Fable. A LITTLE Worm too close that played |