The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-15 00:00:00

THE SUN,

THE VOICE OF NATURE.

We come now to speak practically of the instincts
of animals. We say "practically," because we have
made these things our study from our boyhood up-
wards. Our idea of instinct quite coincides with
that of Paley,
who, in his "Natural Theology," de-
fines instinct, with a nice discrimination, to be " a
propensity prior to experience, and independent of
instruction. ' This is strictly true. We, too, con-
tend that it is by instinct that the sexes of animals
seek one another; that animals cherish their off-
young quadruped is directed to the spring ; that the
breast of its dam for sustenance; that birds build their
nests, and brood with such untiring patience upon
their eggs ; that insects, which do not sit upon their
eggs, deposit them in those particular situations in
which the young, when batched, find their appro-
priate food. In short, that it is instinct which causes
the salmon and some other particular fish to leave the
sea, and enter rivers, for the purpose of safely de-
positing their spawn in fresh water.
What again can it be but instinct, that makes a
bird prepare a nest for the reception of what she has
never yet seen—an egg ? And what but instinct
could teach her, that when laid the eggs require
warmth to bring them to maturity ? I can imagine,
and admit, that when the embryon first receives the
principle of " life"—about ten days after the eggs have
been under the " parent in expectancy"—the case is
altered. Here, natural affection is called into exer-
cise, and every day brings with it pleasing evidence
to the senses that pain is by-and-by to be rewarded
with pleasure. The occupant of the egg is only gifted
with motion, but it utters a feeble cry long before it
is born, and the quick ear of the mother knows, in-
stinctively, at a very early period, all about what is
to follow. Hence the difficulty of getting her to quit
the nest for food, when the time for hatching is nearly
arrived. Her self-importance at such a season is
ludricrously comic ; and it is even better than a play
when, like Alexander Selkirk, "monarch of all she
surveys," and stands confessed the astonished but
happy mother of no fewer than thirteen helpless
squeeling little chicks !—Kidd's Essays on Instinct
and Reason.

FATE of the ERITII CEMETERY SCHEME.
The extent of the Abbey Wood Estate is 438 acres,
end the price asked was 40,0001., or about 931. per acre.
This the Board of Health were prepared to give, and
sought the sanction of tha Treasury, stating their belief
that they would have no difficulty in borrowing the
requisite funds at 4i per cent. from the Guardian As-
surance Office. The Treasury assented to the purchase
and the loan, but the negotiation for the latter was
brought to an abrupt termination, owing to the preva-
lence of a legal objection on the part of the law advisers
of the company to the securities provided for lenders
under the Metropolitan Interment Act. Tho objection
was this:—lt was said that whilst the Public Health
Act, sect. 4, and the Metropolitan Interment Act, sect. 4,
I provide that the corporate character of the Board of
Health shall be continued only " for five ears next after
the passing of the Public Health Act, 1848, and thence-
forth until the end of the then next session of Parlia-
ment," no provision has been made as to the mode in
which the engagements and liabilities of the Board are
to be met alter the expiration of that period. There
was a second objection to this effect:—" That as the law
now stands, there. is nothing to prevent the formation of
new cemetery companies beyond the metropolitan dia.
trict to compete with the Board, and that as such com-
panies would be free from the heavy charges imposed on
the Board for compensations, &c., the Board would be
unable to support the competition. This objection goes
to the root of all the calculations upon which the Board
rest their estimates of a revenue, and can be removed
by nothing else but relieving the Beard from the possi-
bility of competition." A endeavour to obtain the
money from the Ex..ihange Assurance Company failed on
the same ground : the Treasury declined to make
advances; and directed the Board to put an end to the
negotiation for the Abbey Wood Estate, and to report
to the Treasury whether or not it was possible to ter-
u3in'ite also the proceedings for the acquisition of the
Nunbead and Brompton Cemeteries. The Board of
Health replied, that they had directed their solicitor,
Ir. Edis, to take the necessary measures to end the ne-
gotiation for the purchase of the land at Erich, and to
report the state of the procL-edings as to the two ceme-
teries; and here the accessible Minutes end, leaving the
burial question, which so mush concerns the public
health, in a distressingly unsatisfactory condition.—
Builder.