ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 281 



in the largest measure, of the gift of the mental prin- 

 ciple. Some explanation of his excessive superiority 

 may be found in the progress he has made since his 

 emergence from his primitive condition. For ages, 

 the bounds of which are unknown, mankind were im- 

 mersed in a barbarism the depths of which can be 

 but feebly conceived. They were without arts, with- 

 out agriculture, without flocks or herds, depending 

 chiefly upon fish, and the spontaneous fruits of the 

 earth for subsistence. There are glimpses aflbrded to 

 us, here and there, of a state of society in which the 

 family relations were unknown, and in which violence 

 and passion reigned supreme. The contrast between 

 such a condition of mankind, and that of the present 

 time, is so great that it is difficult to recognize in these 

 primitive barbarians our lineal progenitors. Out of 

 that condition man has struggled through a long and 

 painful experience until he has been finally rewarded 

 with the amenities of civilization. Language has 

 been the great instrument of this progress, the power 

 of which was increased many fold when it clothed 

 itself in written characters. He was thus enabled to 

 perpetuate the results of individual experience, and 

 transmit them through the ages. Each discovery 

 thus became a foundation on which to mount up to 

 new discoveries. With the knowledge he has gained, 

 and the elevation he has experienced, it is now diffi- 

 cult to realize the low condition from which his line 

 of advancement commenced. Portions of the human 

 family are still found in the darkness of ignorance, 

 and in the feebleness of mental imbecility; and yet, 

 although the distance of their intellectual separation 

 is very great, it is much less than that between the 



