20 An Inquiry respecting 



energies, or scientific powers, m hich they display : on the contrary, 

 it appears sufficiently evident that with respect to any perception 

 of their own qualities in the abstract, the wisest is no wiser tiian 

 the dullest, and the dullest is equally wise with the wisest; tlie 

 most moral as little so as the least, and vice versa : the Peacock 

 has no more perception of the pride he is famed for, than the 

 Horse or the Lion have of their generosity ; than the Fox has 

 of his cunning, or the Tiger of his cruelty. 



From these considerations, there is in appearance the strongest 

 probability that the moral world, good and evil, may be in action 

 upon, although above the stream of, the natural world, or above 

 the consciousness of lower existence ; and that the former may 

 thus operate upon the latter as a cause upon an effect. But be this 

 as it may, it appears certain, thai moral qualities being objective 

 in the mind of man, he alone is possessed of moral consciousness 

 and moral freedom of action ; thus is an inhabitant of bo<h the mo- 

 ral and the natural world ; and that as moral qualities do not be- 

 come objective in the minds of brutes, or as the moral actions 

 which they perform are not reflected upon by them, as such, nor 

 are in any respect the effects of moral choice and discrimination on 

 their parts, they are therefore not possessed of moral conscious- 

 ness, nor of moral freedom of action ; and thus are not inhabitants 

 of the moral world, — although acted upon by it, — but of the 

 natural world only. 



Having thus concluded my preliminary remarks on the moral 

 qualities exhibited by brutes, I proceed to consider those which 

 are of an intellectual and scientific character, — to the illustration, 

 consequently, of the second proposition given in a former page. — 

 As moral perception appears to be excluded from the conscious 

 sphere of the brute mind, so neither do brutes apjjear to possess 

 any reflex power of contemplating the principles of intelligence and 

 science by which, or rather according to which, they act. They 

 appear to possess no power of taking an intellectual recognizance 

 of this intelligence and science so remarkable in many of their ac- 

 tions ; and may be considered as possessing only an inferior, or what 

 raay be called animal mind, capable of being influenced or direct- 

 ed, but incapable of viewing or appreciating the powers or ener- 



