DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN. 49 



devised and constructed arms more powerful than those which any creature 

 wields, and defences so secure as to defy the assaults of all but his fellow-men. 



13. Man is further remarkable for his power of adaptation to varieties in ex- 

 ternal condition, which renders him to a great extent independent of them. He 

 is capable of sustaining the highest as well as the lowest extremes of tempera- 

 ture, and of atmospheric pressure. In the former of these particulars, he is 

 strikingly contrasted with the anthropoid Apes; the Chimpanzees being restricted 

 to the hottest parts of Africa, and the Orang Outan to the tropical portions of 

 the Indian Archipelago; and neither of these Animals being capable of living 

 in temperate climates without the assistance of artificial heat, even with the aid 

 of which they have not hitherto survived their second dentition. So, again, 

 although Man's diet seems naturally of a mixed character, he can support him- 

 self in health and strength, either on an exclusively vegetable diet, or, under 

 particular circumstances, on an almost exclusively animal regimen. 



14. The slow growth of Man, and the length of time during which he 

 remains in a state of dependence, are peculiarities that remarkably distinguish 

 him from all other animals. He is unable to obtain his own food, during at least 

 the first three years of his life ; and he does not attain to his full bodily stature 

 and mental capacity, until he is more than twenty years of age. This retarda- 

 tion of the developmental process seems to have reference to the high grade 

 which it is ultimately to attain; for everywhere, throughout the Organized 

 Creation, do we observe that the most elevated forms are those which go through 

 the longest preparatory stages, and of which the evolution is most dependent 

 upon the assistance afforded by the parental organism during its earlier periods. 

 The peculiar prolongation of this state of dependence in the Human species has 

 a most important and evident effect upon the social condition of the race ; being, 

 in fact, the chief source of family ties, and affording the opportunity for the 

 education which transmits to the rising generation tlie influence of the intel- 

 lectual culture and moral training of the past. 



15. Still, however widely Man may be distinguished from other animals by 

 these and other particulars of his structure and economy, he is yet more dis- 

 tinguished by those mental endowments, and by the habitudes of life and action 

 thence resulting, which must be regarded as the essential characteristics of 

 humanity. It is in adapting himself to the conditions of his existence, in pro- 

 viding himself with food, shelter, weapons of attack and defence, &c., that 

 Man's intellectual powers are first called into active operation; and when thus 

 aroused, their development has no assignable limit. The Will, guided by the 

 intelligence, and acted on by the desires and emotions, takes the place in Man 

 of the Instinctive propensities which are the usual springs of action in the 

 lower animals ; and although among the most elevated of these, the intelligent 

 will is called into exercise to a certain extent, yet it never acquires among them 

 the dominance which it possesses in Man, and the character never rises beyond 

 that of the child. In fact, the correspondence between the psychical endow- 

 ments of the Chimpanzee, and those of the Human infant before it begins to 

 speak, is very close. The capacity for intellectual progress is a most remark- 

 able peculiarity of Man's psychical nature. The instinctive habits of the lower 

 animals are limited, are peculiar to each species, and have immediate reference 

 to their bodily wants. Where a particular adaptation of means to ends, of 

 actions to circumstances, is made by an individual (as is frequently the case, 

 when some amount of intelligence or rationality exists), the rest do not seem 

 to profit by that experience ; so that, although the instincts of particular animals 

 may be modified by the training of Man, or by the education of circumstances, 

 so as to show themselves after a few generations under new forms, no elevation 

 in intelligence appears ever to take place spontaneously, no psychical improve- 

 ment is manifested in the species at large. One of the most important aids iu 



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