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Buzzard, Bedford, wine and brandy merchant, July 14... Paley R. Leeds, York. fhire, foap-boiler, July 3. Rowland W. now or lave of Berwick-uponTweel, watchmaker, June 21... Rawley J. Chancery-lane, boot maker, Aug. 28 ... Rees W. and H. Borradaile, of Buck. lerbury, drapers, Juy 28...Robinfon James, of Liverpool, provifion merchant, June 19... Richardfon B. Long Acre, coach maker, Jul, 2... Riley S. Soyland, Yorkshire, cotton fpinner, July 13... Robinson J. Liverpool, provifion merchant, July 16.

Sheriff J. of Blackfriars road, linen draper, July 14...Stewart R. and W. Manchefter, merchants, June 28... Sturges J. of Northampton, dealer, July 3...Spanger N. Van, late of Well-ftr. Goodmansfields, merchant, June 23...Stevenson R. of Fetter-lane, cutler, July 8....Sivright D. late of Queen ftr. Cheapfide, merchant, July 2...Stoney W. and J. Smith, Leeds, Yorkshire, grocers, July 9... Sutton C. Liverpool, grocer, July 11 ...Stanley J. Weatherwater-hi, King's Norton, Worcester, farmer, July 14... Stanley E. Alvefton, Warwick, dealer, July 14...Shepherd J. Aldgate High-ftr. linen draper, July 3... Sawyer J. and J. Kettlewell, late of Leeds, Yorkshire, merchants, June 20.

66

Timmings J. of Stewart ftr. Spital Fields,
filk broker, July 3...Tappy M. of Long
Acre, book-binder, June 23... Turking-
ton W. of Finch-lane, merchant, June
23... Towndraw J. now or late of Wen-
nington, Bedford, hawker, July 14...
Thurgood T. of Welwyn, Hertford,
fhopkeeper, June 23.

White T. of the Borough of Southwark,
June, 23... Weaver W. of Bow-lane,
warehoufeman, June 22... Ward W. of
Birmingham, grocer, June 16 Ward

...

J. of Brentwood, Effex, publican, June 1... Wi'fon J. D. of George-ftreet, Maryle-bone, pawn broker, June 26... Wil liams J. G. late of Winchefier-ftr. but now of Marshall fir. London-road, merchant, July 3... Weft J.Somers-place-eaft, St. Pancrafs, plaitterer, June 30... Williams H. Crickhowell, Brecon, money fcrivener, July 2... Wilde J. J. Watts, and J. Body, Upper Thames-ftr. grocers, June 23... Walker W. Leeds, Yorkshire, merchant, July 4... Winter J CombeSaint-Nicholas, Somerfetfhire, leather dreffer, July 7... Ward J. Brentwood, Effex, publican, July 3... Wilkinson J. late of Kingston upon Hull, blockmaker, July 27... Webb J. D. Liverpool, merchant, July 16.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

WE have received a very angry and indeed abufive letter from a Correfpondent who figns himjerf "JUSTUS." It appears he has taken umbrage at the mention we made (pp. 386-7, vol. I.) of Mr. Duy, in our Critique on Mijs Seward's Life of Dr. Darwin. But our correspondent forfeits all claim to be minutely anjicered; for he very candidly confefjes he has never "jeen the bographical work alluded to," and therefore can juy" nothing of the propriety or impropriety of introducing the information refp.eting Mr. Day into it."! It is, indeed, fomething more than ridiculous for a person to condemn deductions which are drawn from any given premijes, without firft making himjelf acquainted with thofe premijes; when he has dime that, he may then judge of the justness of the inferences. Confequently, we refer our correspondent to Mijs Seward's work. It is not our wish to indulge in petty invective: truth is our object; and where that is to be obtained, we will obtain it, regardlefs of any checks which anile fondness or childish affection may interpoje. Had our correspondent's letter been written with more coolness, and with fome confiftency, it Jhould certainly have been admitted into the Magazine, and received due refutation. There is more good intention than poetry in “G. B.'s" Addrejs to the Ex-minifter. The "Epigram on the phylical Author of an annual Review," in our next. The "Petition of the Wife of Almas," &c. does not meet with our approbation. The following letter came too late for infertion this month in the ufual place; we therefore give it here.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Univerfal Magazine.

IF you deem the following Query worthy a place in your Magazine, to be dif cuffed by jome of your judicious correspondents, the injertion will greatly oblige

Yours, &c.

SKILLINGTON.

June 18, 1804. QUERY.-From whence did the BLACKS originate, and how are we to account for the difference of their complexion?

ERRATA.

In the account of Mr. Wollafton's patent for Spectacles, in the laft and preceding Magazine, for Marifcus read Menifcus,

SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER.

WE have to announce to our readers and the public in general, that it is our intention to publish a SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER to the UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE on the 20th of July next; which, besides the title page, preface, a copious index, &c., will contain a valuable assemblage of ORIGINAL papers, which were too long for the ordinary department of the Magazine; and likewise various interesting articles, which will be expressly tranflated from numerous foreign literary and scientific journals. We should, indeed, have complied in fome degree with the established custom of giving a retrospect of foreign and domeftic literature; but against this plan there were two powerful reafons that might be urged: first, our CRITICAL DEPARTMENT fuperfedes, in a great measure, the necessity of a retrospect of DOMESTIC LITERATURE; and, fecondly, various periodical works already embrace the plan abore ftated; while NOWE adopt that which it is our intention to purfue. Confequently ours has, in the first inftance, the recommendation of novelty; and, fecondly, it poffeffes the enviable advantage of refcuing from the obfcurity of a foreign tongue, and the privacy of select friends, many curious, interefting, and valuable dissertations, essays, enquiries, &c., either philofophical, literary, critical, or scientific.

Number VII of the Univerfal Magazine will, of course, be published on the 31ft of July as usual.

THE

UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE.

N° VII. VOL. I.] SUPPLEMENT.

Does inftinct depend upon organiza-
tion and the vital fenfibility? and
can philofophers justly deny to man
the fame inftinct as the brutes pof-
Sefs?

Opinionum commenta delet dies;
Naturæ judicia confirmat.

CICERO, Nat. Deo. Lib. II.
To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag.
SIR,

Τ

IT moftly happens that those who

have written upon pfychology have had no other intention than to form a fect, and render their name illuftrious, even at the expence of truth. But for myfelf, caft weak and helpless into the midft of human opinions, I will advance nothing that cannot be fupported by example, and that is not founded upon obfervation. Nature has ever been my guide; and, though I may chance to ftumble, yet it is the only road that can ultimately lead to truth.

A theory may be luminous, fimple, and easy, and yet not be true; fuch a one is that which only admits mere mechanism in the ingenious organization of animals, and even of plants. Who gives to the former the moral affections: and who gives to all beings, life; and the principle of growth and re-production? What known phyfical powers are capable, by themfelves, of producing thofe independent motions which are perpetuated by re-production? We muft neceffarily acknowledge a vital principle, the caufe of which is hidden from us, and which does not proceed like other mechanical laws, though we know nothing in existence which is not under the dominion of physical energies.

However obfcure and incomprehenfible this vital force may appear, are we not compelled to admit all its powerful effects, when we riVOL. I.

[NEW SERIES.

gorously examine organifed bodies, both animal and vegetable? and do we every day reject things equally obfcure and inexplicable; fuch, for example, as the caufe of attraction, of magnetifm, of electricity, and many other phenomena? We are furrounded with prodigies and darkness; and the antients, who poffeffed at least as much philofophy as we, though they were deficient in fkilful naturalifts, were compelled to revert to occult faculties; that is, the cause remained concealed from their obfervation, as it yet is from ours, and probably will be for fome ages to

come.

We are manifeftly wrong in treating thefe qualities as abfurd; for it does not follow that a thing must be thus, because the immediate caufe of its production is unknown.

There exifts, then, in vegetables and likewife in animals, a vital power greatly fuperior to thofe phyfical principles which are at prefent known and inveftigated. This fubstance, or rather their foul, i. e. their vital force, which animates these beings, is the caufe of all the effects which we obferve among them. It is inconteftable that, in proportion as we advance in phyfical knowledge, we are compelled to confefs that it is infufficient to explain the organic phenomena of every living body. It is a vogtyor, a to delov, as Hippocrates obferves, which, in the progrefs of difeafes, as in that of health, governs and rules thefe wonderful organic machines. Undoubtedly they follow, in fome degree, certain phyfical laws, fubject in a great measure to thofe general ones common to animate and inanimate creation; but they are abfolutely independent of them in the majority of their operations. Such are the affimilation of aliment, the fecre

4 R

tions, the progreffive growth, the reproduction of parts, generation, &c. It is life which prefides over all these actions; it directs them towards the profeffed end of utility, by the laws of fenfibility in animals, or by thofe of contractibility in vegetables. We are too apt to limit Nature: he is more vaft than the narrow confines of our conceptions.

When we iffue from the womb of our mother, is not the foul devoid of ideas, and deftitute of knowledge, but fufceptible of acquiring them through the medium of fenfation, feeking pleasure, and avoiding pain? What is the caufe of this? Is it not a fentiment of self-preservation, which, watching over the fecurity of our existence, inftructs us without fubjecting us to the ordeal of fuffering? Thefe are the functions of that fubitance which animates and vivifies fenfible organic bodies: it is their foul, their vital principle. From hence proceeds the firft and moft certain of all movements anterior to every idea, and independent of all reflection. Such is life, that unknown but certainly real energy, that primitive caufe which animates plants as well as animals. It is an instinct, an independent action, which is neceffary to them.

In fact, a new-bors infant is furrounded with external dangers and perils, to all of which it is liable. Could it poffibly know how to avoid them without inftinét, which beftows fenfibility? A child is not a mere automatical machine, which moves only when acted upon by other bodies; it is a fentient being, and yet deprived of the light of reafon. How does he know that there is in the breaths of his mother a nutritious liquid? How does he know to fuck, to discover it? How does he know that, by fucking, the milk flows *Such are the movements they perform in their organs of generation, as Desfon

taines and Linnæus have obferved; fuch are all the phenomena of the expansion and clofing of the leaves of flowers, their conftant direction, &c,

into his own bofom? How does the mother learn to deprive herself of the comforts of repofe and freedom, to devote herself to fuch painful, to fuch difagreeable functions? What is the return the can expect? what is the advantage the can derive? Nature is the principle which inftigates to thefe facred duties! But what can we comprehend by this word nature, if it do not mean instinct?

Obferve thofe unfortunate beings, deprived of their parents by a cruel fate, in all the helpleffnefs of tender and feeble infancy: have they not, nevertheless, difcovered in the bofom of the country, and in the depths of forefts, nourishing food, and an afylum from the beafts of prey, by the mere force of inftin&? Such were thofe young favages of Hanover, in 1724; of Lithuania, in 1661; of Heffe, in 1544; of Tranfylvania, in 1717; of the Pyrenees, in 1719; of Bamberg, of Champagne, in 1731; of Aveyron, &c. and John de Loudun, of whom Boerhaave speaks. The hiftory of the others has been written by Connor, Tulpius, Camerarius, Condamine, Rzaczinfky, Schelhammer, &c.

But, independently of these rare and curious facts, we have daily examples under our eyes of the inftinct of children. Every thing which is indifpenfably neceflary to their exiftence is furnished them immediately by Nature, or else she has organized them in fuch a manner as to enable them to fucceed in feeking.

It is not mere mechanism, because they require that from their fenfibility, in order to afcertain good and to avoid evil; but it is a fentiment which, though blind, is inexpreffibly fure. The illuftrious Buffon appreciated it well, when he conceded it to animals, though with limitations; and, in my opinion, he is very erroneously attacked on that head by Condillac †, who has

Vol. IV. p. 77, et feq. Ed. 4to. + Traité des Animaux. Chap. V.

carried the inftinct of animals towards mechanifm; a theory which creates a thousand inexplicable objects. How can we account for many furprising actions which we obferve among thofe creatures, and which they know how to vary them felves, according to exifting circumftances? The fox increases his cunning towards his prey; the beaver elevates, lowers, changes, or enlarges bis aquatic habitation according to the difpofition of the rivers; he conftructs dykes, to fecure himself againft inundations: the young fwallow is Impatient in his cage at the approach of the migratory period, though he has never experienced it before: the fouthern mallards, who quit their eggs in fearch of food, do not tear fo much down from them felves to cover thofe eggs, for the fake of neceflary warmth, as thofe of the north do: the labouring bees, who have no parent, produce their own larvæ by nourishing them with the most delicate food, according to the exquifite difcovery of Shirach. But it would require an immenfe fpace to recount all the various kinds of induftry which characterise animals, and particularly thofe of the infect tribes! To defcribe their forefight, who construct magazines of provifions, and fecure themselves against the rigours of winter; if all these actions be produced by neceffity, if they proceed from the most exquifite mechanifm, they have an innate principle which animates them, and directs them to their proper end; which regulates their progrefs, which perceives previously, which even forefees the bad times that are to come by the mere laws of fenfibility.

Spiritus intus alit, totamque infufa per

artus

Mens agitat molem, et magno fe corpore mijcet.

VIRG.

Animals are not deprived of a fort of reason, as has been too long pretended. We do a greater injury to human reafon by denying this

fact than by admitting it: there is no fear that we shall be levelled with the brute creation; there are too many points of separation.

Can we in fact maintain, in an enlightened age, that hypothefis which, according to Boyle, has been a lasting difgrace upon the human character, that the beasts are pure machines! This paradox was advanced among the moderns, for the first time, by Gomez Pereira, a Spanish doctor, in his Antoniana Margarita, printed in 155, a book which had coft him thirty years' labour. But, certainly, even that was not a fufficient time to fupport well fuch an error! It is well known, that the Cartefians maintained this aphorifm, to prevent the overthrow of their fyftem; fpite of the evidence which has always been to be found of the fenfibility of thefe creatures. The expreflion of the niece of Def cartes, refpecting her Canary-bird, contained more philofophy in it than the whole fyftem of that extraordinary genius. Did he never hear the mournful bleatings of the feeble lambkin that is about to be flaughtered; the boisterous joy of the dog that finds his mafter; the piercing cries of love; the plaintive accents of grief; the repeated clamours of diftrefs; and the foft murmurs of pleasure among animals?

Independently of the first motions of inftinét that we notice in the infant, and in every new-born animal, which are indifpenfably neceffary for the prefervation of its exiftence, we may commemorate those which develope themselves in the progrefs of human life. Infants are impelled, by this instinct, to every kind of lively action that can expand, harden, and improve their organs. They run, jump, halloo, fight, love noife, and every corporeal exercife which nature fuggefts to them, and but for which they would be expofed to the difeafes of idlenefs and enervating inactivity.

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