Page 148 - Confessions of the Evolutionists

146 CONFESSIONS OF THE EVOLUTIONISTS

Given the obvious nature of these facts, evolutionists have been

forced to make confessions regarding instinct too. And as in all areas, the
clearest admissions come from Darwin.
Charles Darwin:
What shall we say to the instinct which leads the bee to make cells, and
which has practically anticipated the discoveries of profound mathemati-
cians? 363

Many instincts are so wonderful that their development will probably ap-
pear to the reader a difficulty sufficient to overthrow my whole theory. 364

But it would be a serious error to suppose that the greater number of in-
stincts have been acquired by habit in one generation, and then transmit-
ted by inheritance to succeeding generations. It can be clearly shown that
the most wonderful instincts with which we are acquainted, namely,
those of the hive-bee and of many ants, could not possibly have been ac-
quired by habit. 365
If a working ant or other neuter insect had been an animal in the ordinary
state, I should have unhesitatingly assumed that all its characters had
been slowly acquired through natural selection; namely, by an individual
having been born with some slight profitable modification of structure,
this being inherited by its offspring, which again varied and were again
selected, and so onwards.
But with the working ant we have an insect differing greatly from its par-
ents, yet absolutely sterile; so that it could never have transmitted succes-
sively acquired modifications of structure or instinct to its progeny. It may
well be asked, how is it possible to reconcile this case with the theory
of natural selection? 366
I have not attempted to define intelligence; but have quoted your remarks
on experience, and have shown how far they apply to worms. It seems to
me that they must be said to work with some intelligence, anyhow they
are not guided by a blind instinct. 367
Finally, it may not be a logical deduction, but to my imagination it is far
more satisfactory to look at such instincts as the young cuckoo ejecting its
foster-brothers,- ants making slaves, -the larvae of ichneumonidae feed-
ing within the live bodies of caterpillars,--not as specially endowed or cre-
ated instincts, but as small consequences of one general law, leading to the