usual time of reckoning the young one does not make its appearance. A
chymical operation could not be followed with greater art or diligence,
than is seen in the hatching of a chick; though there are many other
birds that shew an infinitely greater sagacity in all the forementioned
particulars.

But at the same time the hen, that has all this seeming ingenuity (which
is indeed absolutely necessary for the propagation of the species),
considered in other respects, is without the least glimmerings of
thought or common sense. She mistakes a piece of chalk for an egg, and
sits upon it in the same manner: She is insensible of any increase or
diminution in the number of those she lays: She does not distinguish
between her own and those of another species; and when the birth appears
of never so different a bird, will cherish it for her own. In all these
circumstances, which do not carry an immediate regard to the subsistence
of herself or her species, she is a very idiot.

There is not, in my opinion, any thing more mysterious in nature than
this instinct in animals, which thus rises above reason, and falls
infinitely short of it. It cannot be accounted for by any properties in
matter, and at the same time works after so odd a manner, that one
cannot think it the faculty of an intellectual being. For my own part, I
look upon it as upon the principle of gravitation in bodies, which is
not to be explained by any known qualities inherent in the bodies
themselves, nor from any laws of mechanism; but, according to the best
notions of the greatest philosophers, is an immediate impression from
the first mover, and the divine energy acting in the creatures. L.