406 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTIONS. 



more marvellous is the progressive construction of the hu- 

 man mind, and still more arduous the task of tracing the 

 finer threads which connect the delicate web of its ideas, 

 which fix its fleeting perceptions, and which establish the 

 vast system of its associations, and of following the long se- 

 ries of gradations by which its affections are expanded, pu- 

 rified, and exalted, and the soul prepared for its higher des- 

 tination in a future stage of existence. 



Here, indeed, we perceive a remarkable interruption to 

 that regular gradation, which we have traced in all other 

 parts of the animal series; for between man and the most 

 sagacious of the brutes there intervenes an immense chasm, 

 of which we can hardly estimate the magnitude. The func- 

 tions which are purely vital, and are necessary for even the 

 lowest degree of sensitive existence, are possessed equally 

 by all animals: in the distribution of the faculties of mere 

 sensation a greater inequality may be perceived: the intel- 

 lectual faculties, again, are of a more refined and nobler cha- 

 racter, and being less essential to animal life, are dealt out 

 by nature with a more sparing and partial hand. Between 

 the two extremities of the scale we find an infinite number 

 of intermediate degrees. The more exalted faculties are 

 possessed exclusively by man, and constitute the source of 

 the immense superiority he enjoys over the brute creation, 

 which so frequently excels him in the perfection of subor- 

 dinate powers. In strength and swiftness he is surpassed 

 by many quadrupeds. In vain may he wish for the power 

 of flight possessed by the numerous inhabitants of air. He 

 may envy that range of sight which enables the bird to dis- 

 cern from a height at which it is itself invisible to our eyes, 

 the minutest objects on the surface of the earth. He may 

 regret the dulness of his own senses, when he adverts to 

 the exquisite scent of the hound, or the acute hearing of the 

 bat. While the delicate perceptions of the lower animals 

 teach them to seek the food which is salutary, and avoid 

 that which is injurious, man alone seems stinted in his pow- 

 ers of discrimination, and is compelled to gather instruction 



