50 HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY. 



the use and development of the Human Mind, is the capacity for articulate 

 speech; of which, so far as we know, Man is the only animal in possession. 1 

 There is no doubt that many other species have certain powers of communica- 

 tion between individuals ; but these are probably very limited, and of a kind 

 more allied to " the language of signs," than to a proper verbal language. In 

 fact, it is obvious that the use of a language composed of a certain number of 

 distinct sounds, combined into words in a multitude of different modes, requires 

 a certain power of abstraction and generalization, in which it appears that the 

 lower animals are altogether deficient. So, again, verbal language affords the 

 only means whereby abstract ideas can be communicated; and those who have 

 perused the interesting narrative given by Dr. Howe of his successful training 

 of Laura Bridgman, will remember how marked was the improvement in her 

 mental condition, from the time when she first apprehended the fact that she 

 could give such expression to her thoughts, feelings, and desires, as should 

 secure their being comprehended by others. 



16. This capacity for progress is connected with another element in Man's 

 nature, which it is difficult to isolate and define, but which interpenetrates and 

 blends with his whole psychical character. "The soul," it has been remarked, 

 " is that side of our nature which is in relation with the Infinite;" and it is the 

 existence of this relation, in whatever way we may describe it, which seems to 

 constitute the distinctive peculiarity of Man. It is in the desire for an improve- 

 ment in his condition, occasioned by an aspiration after something nobler and 

 purer, that the main-spring of human progress may be said to lie ; among the 

 lowest races of mankind, the capacity exists, but the desire seems dormant. 

 When once thoroughly awakened, however, it seems to "grow by what it feeds 

 on ;" and the advance once commenced, little external stimulus is needed ; for 

 the desire increases at least as fast as the capacity. In the higher grades of 

 mental development, there is a continual looking upwards, not (as in the lower) 

 towards a more elevated human standard, but at once to something beyond and 

 above man and material nature. This seems the chief source of the tendency 

 to believe in some unseen existence ; which may take various forms, but which 

 seems never entirely absent from any race or nation, although, like other innate 

 tendencies, it may be deficient in individuals. Attempts have been made by 

 some travellers to prove that particular nations are destitute of it; but such 

 assertions have been based only upon a limited acquaintance with their habits 

 of thought, and with their outward observances ; for there are probably none 

 who do not possess the idea of some invisible Power, external to themselves, 

 whose favor they seek, and whose anger they deprecate, by sacrifice and other 

 ceremonials. It requires a higher mental cultivation than is commonly met 

 with, to conceive of this Power as having a Spiritual existence ; but wherever 

 the idea of spirituality can be defined, this seems connected with it. The vulgar 

 readiness to believe in ghosts, demons, &c., is only an irregular or depraved 

 manifestation of the same tendency. Closely connected with it is the desire to 

 participate in this spiritual existence, of which the germ has been implanted in 

 the mind of Man, and which, developed as it is by the mental cultivation that 

 is almost necessary for the formation of the idea, has been regarded by philoso- 

 phers in all ages as one of the chief natural arguments for the immortality of 

 the soul. By this immortal soul, Man is connected with that higher order of 

 being, in which Intelligence exists, unrestrained in its exercise by the imper- 

 fections of that corporeal mechanism through which it here operates; and to 

 this state a state of more intimate communion of mind with mind, and of 

 creatures with their Creator he is encouraged to aspire, as the reward of his 

 improvement of the talents here committed to his charge. 



1 [London Journal of Psychological Medicine, for July 1851; art. Instinct and Reason, 

 by James Rumball, Esq. ED.] 



