Instinct and reason, philosophically investigated : with a view to ascertain the principles of the science of education / by Thomas Jarrold, M.D.

  • Jarrold, T. (Thomas), 1770-1853.
Date:
1736 [i.e. 1836]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Instinct and reason, philosophically investigated : with a view to ascertain the principles of the science of education / by Thomas Jarrold, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    34/362 (page 26)
    '2G the power by which it is accomplished may be learned from the fact, that organic life is not protected by the laws of nature; not protected, no j to a superficial obser- ver they^appear as if designed for its destruction. The elements pour upon it their fury, which it cannot withstand; and the seasons, as they return in their coiu-se, wither by heat or destroy by cold; and from the least to the greatest, one organised body, of neces- sity, lives upon and destroys another. The earth affords them no repast, not even a manure to improve the soil. Lime and marl, which are used as such, once had life, or contain the wreck of living sub- stances. All nature is sustained by the power that formed it; but that which sustains organic life is most direct and special, it rests immediately on the strength of the arm of the Almighty, who is not more mindful of the earth than of the beings for whom it was made: brute matter needs the united force of many laws, those of organic matter unite in one. The swallow is as irre- sponsible as a block of marble, for to whom does it give an account of what it does ? Warned by an irresist- ible impulse it departs, and by the same impulse re- turns, with a regularity unknown even to the seasons: they vary, but the swallow re-appears on the same day in every succeeding spring. The power, be it a law, or be it not, is uniform, like that which rolls the earth along its path. A Law of Nature is Omnipo- tent Power, ordained to a given purpose, of which gravitation holds a prominent place, but it acts on matter, which offers no resistance but its inertia. Admitting instinct to be a law, its sphere of influ- ence is matter, diversified by a thousand forms and conditions, each complete in itself, and forming a