become more or less modified, leading to their mutual infertility, we
do not know." But God knows.



23. THE INSTINCT OF ANIMALS


The instinct of animals is not due to their own intelligence. It is
unerring, unchangeable, without improvement or deterioration. It
implies knowledge and wisdom of the highest order. It is beyond the
wisdom of man. It comes direct from God. It is not learned nor gained
by experience. It is found in many species of animals, and even in a
child, until knowledge and reason make it unnecessary.

One of the most familiar illustrations is the instinct of the honey
bee. It builds its cells in exact geometric form and we compute, by
Calculus, that the form it uses produces the greatest capacity in
proportion to the amount of material used. Who taught the bee to build
its cell, displaying greater knowledge than that of many a college
graduate? Darwin says (Origin of Species), "It can be clearly shown
that the most wonderful instincts with which we are acquainted, namely
those of the honey bee, could not possibly have been acquired by
habit." We quote from Granville's Calculus, p. 119: "We know that the
shape of a bee cell is hexagonal, giving a certain capacity for honey
with the greatest possible economy of wax." This is demonstrated by
the solution of a problem in this same Calculus. Darwin again says
(Origin of Species, vol. I, p. 342), "We hear from mathematicians,
that bees have practically solved a recondite problem, and have made
their cells of the proper shape to hold the greatest possible amount