as well without them, and they neither serve to make us really wiser, nor more contented."-That such is a common opinion among those who think at all upon the subject of instinct, will, I think, not be denied.

Instinct, according to Dr. Reid, is a natural blind impulse to certain actions, without having any end in view; without deliberation, and very often without any conception of what we do. It has again been defined to be a tendency implanted in the mind of animals, when under the influence of certain feelings or sensations, to perform spontaneously, unerringly, independently of all teaching and experience, and without any determinate view to consequences, certain actions necessary for the preservation of the individual, and the continuance of the kind(1). The latter definition appears to be a very just one; and there is not the least doubt, that many actions, both of men and brutes, are performed under this mysterious tendency. No action, perhaps, is more decidedly instinctive, than the sucking of the newborn lamb. This little animal is never thought to have any distinct idea that its mother's milk is necessary for its existence, nor is it ever suspected to know by inductive philosophy that if it does not suck it will inevitably die; but it evidently acts under the uncontrollable influence of a certain law, which impels to the teat the young of every animal, whether a lion's cub or the offspring of a woman. If the analogy between a wolf and a man could only be traced in their alike acting from a principle whose operation is in both involuntary, and as unerring as the law of gravitation, the common opinion of men concerning the brutes would undoubtedly be just. Exclusively distinguished by the gift of reason, we might then look down from an immense height on the lower animals; deny, with Descartes, that they possess a soul; and with him consider them as mere automatons, moved by clock-work. But are we authorized by the mental phænomena which the actions of brutes daily exhibit, to deny that they possess a soul as well as ourselves? Soul is a word by which we understand that principle in man which possesses consciousness, a power of perception, memory, intelligence, and volition (2). That faculty of the soul which chiefly distinguishes man from the brute creation, is that of reason, or a power of drawing conclusions, from a comparison of our ideas, by which to regulate our actions. But a very short observation of the manners of the brute creation would, one should imagine, convince every one, that the lower animals act from reason as well as ourselves. To prove this, innumerable instances

might be mentioned. The following, from Dr. Rees's Cyclopædia article Instinct,-is well worth quoting:-"A lady, with whom we were acquainted, had a tame bird, which she was in the habit of letting out of its cage every day. One morning, as it was picking crumbs of bread off the carpet, her cat, who always before showed great, kindness for the bird, seized it on a sudden, and jumped with it in her mouth upon a table. The lady, alarmed for the fate of her favourite, on turning about observed that the door had been left open, and that a strange cat had just come into the room. After turning it out, her own cat came down from her place of safety, and dropped the bird, without injuring (if we may so express it) a hair of its head." Will any one assert that this cat acted from "a natural blind impulse, without having any end in view," or "without any determinate view to consequences?" We might as well say, that to plunge into the water to save the life of a fellow-creature, is an instinctive involuntary action. This sagacious animal perceiving the entrance of a strange cat into the parlour of her benefactress, by the recollection of her own predilection for bird's flesh, had sufficient intelligence to know that the bird on the carpet was in danger from a similar appetite in a strange individual of her own species. Here was the exercise of reason in a very high degree; complex ideas, both of observation and experience; the latter, recalled by an act of niemory, must have passed through the mind of the cat with inconceivable rapidity. She acted from a certain motive, which we may naturally suppose was that of attachment to the bird; and she cer tainly appears to have had in view a determinate end, which was the preservation of her little companion. She perceived, she felt, she recollected, she willed, and she acted. That the cat in this instance was a free agent, and exercised the power of volition, cannot be denied; for powers and feelings to be properly instinctive, must be in common to the species; and the free agency of this animal is incontrovertibly established, if we can suppose that any other individual of the feline race would not have acted with the same feeling and intelligence, in a similar situation. If, then, we observe one of the brute creation displaying all those powers and faculties which are used for the definition of that principle which we call soul,-consciousness, a power of perception, memory, intelligence, and volition,why should we hesitate to ascribe similar phænomena to a similar cause? why should we refuse to believe that brutes are animated by a sentient principle, analogous in its essence Vol. 38. No. 163. Nov. 1811.

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to that of the human species?-It is, no doubt, easy to mention numberless instances to prove that many of the lower animals constantly act under the direction of instinct ; and that many others, who in some cases appear to act. from reason, at other times, when we should most expect them to reason, are mere idiots. But this merely proves that there exist different degrees of intelligence amongst brutes as well as men;-but who ever doubts that a dunce has a soul as well as a man of genius? The phænomena which we may daily observe in the animal kingdom, exhibited by men and brutes in their actions, their manners, and their customs, bring us, I think, to this conclusion;that in some cases they both alike act under the involuntary influence of a certain principle, which is called Instinct. For the preservation of the individual, and the propagation of the species, Providence has ordained that certain feelings and sensations shall invariably impel all his creatures to certain actions, which shall contribute to those two great ends: and this, I think, is the truest explanation we can give of instinct. But from observation and experience, we may likewise conclude, that the lower animals are in many instances free agents, as well as men; that both possess a soul, or sentient principle, analogous in its essence, but differently modified; and that the inferiority of brutes to the human species, the disparity of intellect which naturally exists between individuals of both kinds, is owing to this difference of modification in that cogitative substance called the soul. I will hazard a few more remarks on this subject, in your next or the following number.

LXIV. An Account of the Growth and Processes of Mealing, Malting, and Brewing, of the Northern naked Barley. In a Letter to the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society. By R. FLOWER, Esq.*

Marden, near Hertford, April 1, 1810.

GENTLEMEN, WHEN I had the honour of being present at a meeting of your Society in February 1809, amongst the many subjects then discussed were the qualities and merits of the Northern naked barley.

As no accurate statement was brought before you of any experiment by which its value could be ascertained, I beg leave to recommend to your attention the following account of the growth and processes of mealing, malting, and brewing of the Northern naked barley.

* From vol. xii. of the Society's Letters and Papers.

On

Onthe 12th of May, 1809, I sowed five acres of it after a mixed crop of turnips and cabbages, which were fed off by sheep in the latter end of April and the first week in May. This crop, being very abundant, kept the sheep longer on the ground, which was on this account in some degree better manured than my other land.

Although this barley was so late sown, it was ready to cut a week sooner than my English barley, and came to maturity a month sooner; which is doubtless an advantage to the husbandman, as the crop of barley on the latest-fed turnip land often suffers.

Of the produce I can only speak comparatively, as it was not large; a long drought in the summer burnt our lightland crops, and this suffered with the rest. I had but two quarters of English barley per acre; of the naked, four quarters one bushel. It came up well, and had a luxuriant appearance during the dry season.

I sent a bushel of each sort of barley to a neighbouring mill, requesting each might be ground and dressed into one sort of flour; the bran only being taken out; and an accurate account of the weight of each sent to me, which was as under:

Each bushel of barley lost 4 lbs. in the process of its manufacture. It will be observed, that the foreign barley made 12 lbs. more of flour per bushel than the English, which is within 2 lbs. of seven pecks per quarter; and at the computed value of 2s. 6d. per peck, amounts to 17s. 6d. worth of flour more per quarter than was obtained from English barley of the last year's growth.

In the course of the winter I malted six quarters: it worked but indifferently on the floors, having many hard corn amongst it; but this I consider as the defect of almost all the barley of the year 1809. Its swell in the cistern was much greater than English barley, being from six quarters equal to our usual steeping of twenty quarters. I had also a large increase in the making, having nearly two bushels in six quarters, which is much more than it is usual to obtain from the best barley on our plan of making malt.

On brewing this malt, I had the satisfaction to find the wort tasted much richer than that brewed from English malt. My instrument (Richardson's saccharometer) confirmed my observation, having extracted 12 lbs. more of saccharine matter per quarter than from the English malt. The result of these different experiments appears to be in favour of the Northern naked barley as follows: Nearly seven pecks of flour per quarter more than obtained from English barley, at 2s. 6d. per peck ...

In its malted state, 12 lbs. more of saccharine matter per quarter extracted than from English malt, at 1s. 6d. per lb.....

...

s. d.

17 6

18 0

From this account it may be fairly presumed, that the Northern naked barley is worth from 17s. to 18s. more than the English, for the purposes of mealing, malting, and brewing.

Wishing this communication may prove useful to agriculturists in general, and acceptable to this Society, I remain your obedient servant, RICHARD FLower.

LXV. On the Impropriety of assigning new Meanings to the established MARKS used in Science: and on observing the Directions and Dips of STRATA. By a CORRespon

DENT.

To Mr. Tilloch.

SIR, ON reading the printed proposals for a Mineralogical Survey of the County of Salop, issued in May 1810, by Mr. Arthur Aikin, I was much struck, on examining the specimen of his intended Maps, which is annexed to this prospectus, to find that small arrows are there used, not to denote by their heads or points, the dip or fall of the measures, as has on all previous occasions, I believe, been the case, and as is particularly recommended on geognosical Maps in that highly important volume, the first of the Wernerian Transactions, not to mention their invariable use on Maps in general, to mark the descent of the streams, to find that Mr. A. proposes, to apply them to mark the rise of the Strata, or turns their barbed points the contrary way to what has ever before been done: I hope that this was a mere oversight, and that Mr. A. will be induced to restore the

Mr. Flower has since informed the secretary, that the beer proves excellent.

known