72 Mr. French 0/2 the nature of Instinct. 



discussion of principles which aflfect the present investigation, I 

 shall oifer, without the etiquette of an apology, an incidental 

 sketch of the general views it developes, so far as these respect the 

 mental faculties of animals ; in doing which, 1 shall also take the 

 liberty of discussing the author's opinions, so far as they affect the 

 general inquiry proposed in my previous essays, and with a view 

 to the more immediate point of investigation proposed in the pre- 

 sent paper : — namely, the nature of the positive influence of the 

 human mind, upon the mind of the brute subject. 



It is proper here to premise, that the work in question includes 

 a general theory of the human mind, in connexion with pure 

 Theology, which the author indeed states to be the ultimate ob- 

 ject of his labours. Any remarks upon this (no inconsiderable) 

 portion of the book, would here be out of place ; the observations 

 which close the present paper, and which were written antece- 

 dently to my perusal of Dr. Hancock's work, will however, I trust, 

 go to shew, by their coincidence with the author's sentiments on 

 the subject they advert to, that whatever views I may take of his 

 reasonings on the capacities of the Brute, are stated in candour, 

 and are not the mere efi'usions of a cavilling spirit. 



I may here briefly remark that the author's opinions relative to 

 the nature of the operation of a First Cause in the universal sphere 

 of Creation, although not new, are highly illustrative of the sub- 

 ject. Dr. Hancock devotes a considerable portion of his book to 

 support the conclusion, that Man is continually in the reception of a 

 Superior Principle, from which the elements of all his knowledge 

 are deducible, and quotes a numerous list of eminent authorities, 

 ancient and modern, in the support of this particular view — 

 namely, That First Principles are intuitively received by Man, 

 and that the reasoning or discursive faculty proceeds or is derived 

 from them, and operates upon the outward perceptions, which the 

 mind forms by means of the senses. 



With whatever supposable facility then, we may define the 

 boundary of human rationality, it is confessedly no easy matter to 

 mark, in language, the limit of the operation of the influential power 

 on the one hand, and of the sobordinate non-rational freedom, 

 on the other, which, taken together, present a general view of the 



