Illustrations of instinct deduced from the habits of British animals / By Jonathan Couch.

  • Jonathan Couch
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Illustrations of instinct deduced from the habits of British animals / By Jonathan Couch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The whole duty of the existence of these creatures appears to be si to draw nutrition, propagate, and rot ;” and the only faculty with which they seem to be endued for this purpose, is what Bichat has denominated organic sensibility, and Dr. Fletcher irritation ; and which consists in a “perception, by organized beings, of certain stimuli acting upon them otherwise than mechanically or chemically.” And yet, in this definition, the word perception is liable to some misapprehension, as the action or func- tion is absolutely without any degree or kind of con- sciousness. The humble station which they occupy in the scale of being is owing to the nature of the tissue of which they are composed: for, as we shall have occasion to remark when speaking of a higher advance in nature, a more highly-organized tissue will bring us to a class which will display, though still without consciousness, many more of the signs of being a living animal. But when these creatures of the lowest series lay hold of external assistance for the fulfilment of their natural functions, no animal sensibility is exercised, no choice manifested; and all that can be called an approach to a semblance of these faculties is, that if a substance be placed near them, for which their tissue or organization has no natural affinity, they do not give it admittance. The endosmodic surface may become corrugated or impervious, or an_ orifice may close, and so reject what if admitted might have been hurtful ;—and yet this is not done because it is known or felt to be hurtful or abhorrent; but B2
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