SECT. III.

Physical Superiority of Man, on what Principle to be estimated.

FROM this helplessness in his early years, and from the occasional inferiority of some of his physical organs to the corresponding organs of brutes, it has sometimes been absurdly asked what claim man has, from his physical structure or powers, to be placed first in the scale of animal beings. His strength, what is it to that of the elephant or of the horse, or even of some species of reptiles or fish? his powers of sight and motion, what are they to those of the bird? his sense of odours, to that of the dog? his touch, to that of the spider?

And yet, even if we entirely omit the consideration of the soul, that immaterial and immortal principle which is for a time united to his body, and view him only in his merely animal character, man is still the most excellent of animals. How confined are the powers of other animals, considered generally, when compared with those of the human species. The comb of the bee indeed is in its construction wonderful; and so is even the nest of the bird, or the habitation of the beaver: but these animals could never be taught to fabricate, or to use, the simplest of those machines or instruments, which man, even in a very partially civilized state, is

in the daily habit of making and employing: much less could they be taught to perform those complicated operations which result from their employment.

But, it may perhaps be said, it is the mind, the intellectual power of man, which enables him to produce the effects in question. His mind indeed enables him to conceive the plan of those operations which he executes, but it does no more: and were his form deficient by one of the smallest of its present members, he would be rendered nearly helpless. Take from his hand but one of the fingers, and he could do nothing. It is the human hand which gives the power of execution to the human mind; and it is the relative position of one of the fingers to the other four, which principally stamps the character of the hand; for the thumb, by its capability of being brought into opposition with each of the other fingers, enables the hand to adapt itself to every shape; and gives it that complete dominion which it possesses over the various forms of matterb.

Give all the intelligence therefore that you please to the horse, or to the elephant, yet with hoofs instead of hands it is physically impossible that they could construct the simplest in

b The term poltroon, if not of fancied etymology, (pollice truncatus,) verifies this statement; the Roman soldier who had been deprived of his thumb, being deemed unfit for service.

strument: nor could the organs even of the beaver, were that animal gifted with the highest intellectual powers, enable it to effect much more than it is capable of effecting at present.

Man then is in every sense superior, in organization as well as in intellectual powers, to all other animals; and the degree of resemblance to him, as thus superior, is the main principle of classification adopted at the present day: and upon the whole it will be found that, in proportion as the powers and relations of animals are extensive, their structure resembles that of man. And, with respect to the degrees of this resemblance, it may be observed that occasionally it is so strong, as to constitute all but identity of form, as in some of the quadrumanous animals, or apes; while in others it is so faint, as to render it questionable whether we are viewing an animate or inanimate body, as in several varieties of sponge. It is evident that the stability of the principle of classification, now described, depends on the permanency of the specific form of animals and it will be found that nature has guarded this point in so sacred a manner, that after the lapse of thousands of years, the identity of the species may be not only traced, but demonstrated, when nothing but the almost mouldering bones of the individual remain. But this subject will be considered more at large hereafter.

As then, in estimating the moral or intellectual characters of particular men, we are not influenced by the consideration of insulated defects or excellencies, but of the aggregate powers and qualities of the individual; so, in comparing other animals with man, we ought not to affirm that they approach nearer to the standard of his perfection in proportion as they approach nearer to him in the structure of this or that part, or in the developement of particular powers or qualities; but in proportion to that approximation which results from the balance of their structure and powers considered collectively. And on this principle, however nearly a few of them may resemble him, they never can approach even the confines of an equality of nature; whatever some speculative individuals have presumptuously supposed, or others in their simplicity have feared. Thus the resemblance to the human form, as well internally as externally, is so remarkable in particular species of the ape, that while some philosophers (who however proceeded without a knowledge or a due consideration of the true principles of the science concerned in their reasonings) have maintained that the ape and man are but varieties of the same species, or at most but different species of the same genus; others, with an unnecessary anxiety, have laboured to vindicate the supposed insult thus offered to the dignity of human na

ture, by searching for some fixed and invariable difference in the structure of corresponding parts of each.

But the question is puerile: for let us even suppose that the whole and every part of the structure of the ape were the same as that of man; let every bone, and every muscle, and every fibre of the one correspond exactly with those of the other, not only in form and situation, but also in size and proportion; let the brain itself, that tangible instrument of the intellectual powers, be in structure the counterpart of the human; yet, unless in its functions it resembled that of man, in other words, unless there were associated with it his intellectual peculiarities and the moral and religious sense, to what dreaded conclusion would the closest resemblances lead? However near the approximation in their form, in their nature there must ever be an immeasurable distance between the two. The ape, compared with man, may indeed be among other animals "proximus huic :" still however it must be added, "longo sed proximus intervallo."

SECT. IV.

Early and gradual Developement of the intellectual Faculties of Man.

THE helplessness of infancy then is but temporary and a new scene soon opens to the contemplation of those who have sufficient opportu