Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1890-07-26
INSTINCTS
sights and Colo1 Known to Anil
NIL and VI To Nan

mails and Not TO Man.
II the doctrine be true that man is
really TIE heir o: al the various species
and genera OF the animal kingdom il
seems a little hari upon us that
even hy way OF exception, We inherit
none OF the more marvellous instincts q
those species and genera and have 70 be
content: with those greater but purely
human faculties By which the most
wonderful Of auimal instincts nave been
axtlnguishei. Sir John Lubbock main
tains there are insects, and very likely
even higher animals which perceive
:olors Of which We have 10 glinpses
and hear sounds which 70 Us are insuii.
bic. Ne, We never hear Of q human
retina that includes n is vision tLose
Co.o-s depending on vibrations Of the
ether which are @ slow or too rapid
for u ordinary eyes, nor o: 3 humsn
ear which IS e~nt-auced with music that
70 the great majority Of our species IS
absolutely !naudible.
Again. We never hear Of q human
being Who could perform the feat OF
which We we're told only recently OF a
bloodhound. II a dark night il fol-
lowed up for three miles the trail OF a
thief with whom the bloodhound could
never have been in contact he had jus.
pur.0ine3 some rolls Of tan from the
lanyard in which the dog was chained
up. and finally sat down unaeysae tree
in which .bs Aan mad taken refuge.
Why, We wonder, are those finer powers
for discriminating and following the
track Of the scent, which so manyo Of the
lower animals possess, entirely eytin-
Elished il man, II man be the rea, heir
Of a.. the various genera which show
powers inferior 20 his own.
We see no trace in animals Il that
high en- oyment Of the finer scents
which make the poisoning Of the
spring flowers so great 4 deligh. 10 hu-
man beings, and yet men are entirely
destitute Of that almost unerFing power
OF tracking the path Of an odor which
seems 10 be one OF the principal gifts
O.. many quadrupeds and some birds. Il
is the same with the power OF q dog or
cat TO find is way back TO a home TO
which it IS attached, but from which i.
has been taken By a route that it can
not possibly follow on its return. even
Il it had The power Of observing the
route. which usually it has not. Moth
ing could be more convenient than such
q power to a lost child. But none ever
heard Of achild who possessed it.
Sill more enyiab.e is that instinct
possessed by so many birds Of crossing
great tracts Of land and sea without APP
rarantly nyland-maris or sea.marks TO
guide them. and of reaching a quarter
Of the globe which many OF them have
never visited before, while those who
have visited it before have not visited j.
often enough to learn the way.
The migratory bird must possess
either senses or instincts entirely be.
rond the range Of human Imagination.
and yet no one ever heard Of the sur
viva. Of such a sense or instinct in
any member Of our race. 1t
may be said, indeed, tina. men
have either inherited or in some
way Reproduced the slaye-makiny
instinct OF some Of the military
ms: but this only enhances the irony
Of OUR destiny If We do, indeed, in any
sense inherit from these insect ar.stoc-
racies one Of the most disastrous H.
s-,ncts Of the audacious but indolent
creatures which fight 50 much better
than they work. What is still moro
curious IS that even where human DO,
ings have wholly exceptional and IN
heari-ot powers they betray no tracei
Of the exceptional and unheari-oi
powers Of the races whose vital organ
izatiQus We are said 10 inherit.
The occasional appearance Of very
rare mathematical powers, for instance,
so far from being in any sense explic-
able from below, looks more like in.
sp.ration from above. The calculating
boy. who could not even give any &C.
count o: the process whereby he arrived
al correct results which the educated
mathematician took some time to
verify, certainly was not reviv-
ing in himself any of the rare
power Of the lower tribes Of
animals. Nor do the prodigies in music
VINO show such a marvellous power in in
fancy recall TO US any instinct Of the
bird the only musical creature except
ourselves. Still less, Of course, does
great moral genius-the genius of a
Howard or a Clarkson-suggest any
reminiscence Of lower animal life
American Analyst.