NUCi: ETIIN'OLOGICAE. 261 



various masses of nervous matter have an intimate connexion with the 

 science of Phrenology, wliosc advocates claim for man an immense pre- 

 ponderance of those parts of tlie brain which tlicy believe to be the spe- 

 cial organs of the reflective faculties. In consequence of this distinc- 

 tion, he is endowed with that wonderful power we call reason. Traces 

 of this are found in animals in the ratio of the completeness of their 

 great nervous centre, the brain. I\Iany of them possess the external 

 senses far more acute than our own. RIan is far inferior to the hawk 

 in vision, and to the hound in scent. In mental endowments he is as 

 far above them. That they have memory is indubitable, and that they 

 possess imagination is also evident. Dogs, as we all know, frequently 

 dream. That they can compare and choose is undeniable. The mule- 

 teer on tlie steep slopes of the Andes trusts more implicitly in the gui- 

 dance of his mule than in his own knowledge; and they prize their an- 

 imals according to their intelligence, saying habitually — "1 will not give 

 you the strongest mule, but the one that reasons best." But it is in 

 man alone that we find intellect w^orthy of the name. This it is that 

 gives him power over the material world, to compel it to what form may 

 suit his taste or pleasure, and that directs and dignifies his sentiments. 

 Without it, he would doubtless still have been a gregarious animal, seek- 

 ing the company of his kind ; but, with it, he becomes the centre of a 

 circle of beautiful aflections, and feels the warm ties of consanguinity, 

 of love, of friendship, and of country. 



Connected with this power, and the possession of articulate language, 

 which in a great measure depends upon it, is another great fact in man's 

 history. He is i/ie only progressive species on ike earth. Whatever ex- 

 perience is gained by one of the inferior animals, dies with it. They 

 possess no means by which they can impart the lessons th.ey have learn- 

 ed to another. Hence they have been the same in all ages. The flocks 

 that browze on our hills have made no advance on those which led in 

 the primeval world upon the plain of Shinar. Yet what a wide diller- 

 ence in their masters! What a contrast between the awe-struck CJial- 

 dean shepherd, looking up to the shining hosts above him as the mys- 

 terious arbiters of his destiny, and the modern astronomer, who can 

 mark the path and predict the motions of the remotest orb ! Each new 

 generation of men starts where its predecessor stopped, and, dying, 

 leaves a richer legacy to its heirs. Hence the law of progress, at wliich 

 some would sneer, even in this age and country which are its noblest 

 evidence, has its foundations deep in man's nature. The capacity for 

 l)rogress, existing in both the iniHvidual and the race, is indicated by 

 those powers which mukc man a ttacliin«r and karning beinj/. It h]as 

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