ANIMAL AND HUMAN PERCEPTION. 127 



house ; there is the eye-brow (ciglio) of a ditch, the 

 eye of heaven, a vein of metal, the entrails of a 

 mountain. The Alps are bald or bare, the soil is 

 wrinkled, objects are sinister or the reverse (sinistra, 

 destra)* and a mountain is gigantic or dwarfish. 



In like manner we ascribe our own functions to 

 nature. The river eats into the land ; the whirlpool 

 swallows all which is thrown into it, and the wind 

 whistles, howls and moans ; the torrent murmurs, 

 the sun is born and dies, the heavens frown, the fields 

 smile. This habit is also transferred to moral ques- 

 tions ; and we speak of the heart of the question, the 

 leading idea, the body of doctrines, the members of a 

 philosophic system ; we infuse new blood into thought. 

 Truth becomes palpable, a theme is eviscerated, thought 

 is lame, science is childish. History speaks clearly ; 

 there is an embryo of knowledge, a vacillating science ; 

 the infancy, youth, maturity, and death of a theory ; 

 morality is crass, the spirit meagre or acute; the 

 mind adapts itself, logic is maimed ; there is a conflict 

 of ideas, the inspiration of science, truncated thoughts. 

 Again we talk of the head of the mob, of the foot of 

 the altar or the throne, of the heart of the riot, of the 

 body of an army, of a phalanx, of trampling under 

 foot, duty, decency, and justice. 



From these examples, and indeed we might say 



* The double meaning is projected into objects. The primitive 

 meaning of dexter was fitting, capable, and it was then applied to 

 the side of the material body. Sansc. dacs, to hasten. Ascoli, Studi 



linguist id. 



