GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 75 



known to be above a hundred years ; and instances of such longevity are to be 

 found in all nations. 



60. Still, however widely Man may be distinguished from other animals, 

 by these and other peculiarities of his structure and economy, he is yet more 

 distinguished by those mental endowments, and the habitudes of life and 

 action thence resulting, which must be regarded as the essential characteris- 

 tics of humanity. In the highest among brutes, the mere instinctive propen- 

 sities (as already defined, 17, 23), are the frequent springs of action ; and 

 although the intelligent will is called into exercise to a certain extent, the 

 character never rises beyond that of the child. In fact, the correspondence 

 between the psychical endowments of the Chimpanzee, and those of the 

 Human infant before it begins to speak, is very close. In Man, however, the 

 instinctive propensities only manifest themselves strongly, whilst the intellect 

 is undeveloped ; and nearly all the actions of adult life are performed under 

 the direction of the intelligent will. From the intelligence of Man results his 

 mental improvability ; and his improved condition impresses itself upon his 

 organization. This capability of improvement in the bodily as well as the 

 mental constitution of Man, is the cause of the comforts now enjoyed by 

 civilised races, and of the means which they possess of still further elevation. 

 In the processes by which these are attained, we observe a remarkable differ- 

 ence between the character of Man, and that of other animals. The arts of 

 which these last are capable, are limited, and peculiar to each species ; and 

 there seems to be no general power of adapting these to any great variety of 

 purposes, or of profiting by the experience of others. Where a particular 

 adaptation of means to ends, of actions to circumstances, is made by an indi- 

 vidual (as is frequently the case, when some amount of intelligence or ration- 

 ality exists), the rest do not seem to profit by it ; so that there is no proof 

 that any species or race among the lower animals ever makes a voluntary 

 advance towards an improvement or alteration in its condition. That modifi- 

 cations in structure and instincts may be induced by circumstances, in some 

 of the most improvable species, such as the Dog, has been shown by abun- 

 dant evidence ; and these modifications, if connected with the original habits 

 and instincts of the species, maybe hereditarily transmitted. There is ample 

 proof that the same is the case, in regard both to the corporeal structure and 

 the psychical endowments of Man. Under the influence of education, phy- 

 sical and mental, continued through successive generations, the capabilities of 

 his whole nature, and especially those of his brain, are called out; so that the 

 general character of the race is greatly improved. On the other hand, under 

 the influence of a degraded condition, there is an equally certain retrogression; 

 so that, to bring up the New Holland Savage, or the African Bushman, to the 

 level of the European, would probably require centuries of civilisation. One 

 of the most important aids to the use and development of the human mind, is 

 the power of producing articulate sounds, or language ; of which, as far as 

 we know, Man is the only animal in possession. There is no doubt, that 

 many other species have certain powers of communication between individu- 

 als ; but these are probably very limited, and of a kind very different from a 

 verbal language. 



61. Although, as we have stated, there is nothing in Man's present condi- 

 tion, which removes him from the pale of the Animal kingdom, and although 

 his reasoning powers differ rather in degree than in kind from those of the 

 inferior animals, he seems distinguished by one innate tendency ; to which 

 we have no reason to suppose that anything analogous elsewhere exists ; and 

 which we might term an instinct, were it not that this designation is generally 

 applied to propensities of a much lower character. The tendency here 

 referred to, is that which seems universal in Man, to believe in some unseen 



