SCIENTIFIC TRACTS. 



NUMBER XIX. 



MAN, PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. 



I. THE PECULIARITIES WHICH DISTINGUISH MAN FROM 

 ALL OTHER ANIMALS. 



* THE physical organization of man, while it subjects 

 him to those laws of generation, growth and dissolution, 

 which extend to all orders of living nature, bears at the 

 same time, in each of its parts, and as a whole, a charac- 

 ter so peculiar, so extraordinary and so sublime, that it 

 is impossible to suppose even the most distant relation- 

 ship between the brutes, who do nothing but feed and 

 propagate on the surface of the earth, and him who is 

 born to exercise dominion over them. That upright and 

 elevated part, which indicates both dignity and courage ; 

 those hands, the trusty instruments of our will, the dex- 

 terous performers of the most magnificent, as well as the 

 most useful works; those eyes uplifted from the dust, 

 whose intelligent glance can survey the immensity of the 

 heavens ; those organs which enable us to express thought 

 by articulate sounds of endless variety ; the admirable 

 union of strength and suppleness in all our members; 

 finally the harmony and perfectibility of all our senses, 

 assign to us the first rank among living beings, and give 

 us both the right to claim and the power to hold the em- 

 pire of the earth. 



'Anatomy and physiology have placed these truths be- 

 yond the reach of dispute. Those naturalists who have 

 pretended to confound the human species with that of 

 monkeys, notwithstanding the essential difference in 



VOL. i. NO. xix. 40 



