COMPAKISON BETWEEN ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 239 



379. After a glance upward to the heavenly bodies we re- 

 turned to our globe, and considered the various substances on 

 its surface. At the head of the animal kingdom we found 7nan^ 

 sufficiently resembling brute animals in his material frame to 

 constitute part of an extensive class, embracing the ape, ele- 

 phant, and dog ; yet between the lowest degree of intelligence 

 in the human race, and the highest faculties of brutes, there is 

 a line of distinction marked by the hand of the Almighty, in 

 characters too obvious for doubt. God said, " Let us make 

 man in our own image, and he breathed into him the breath ot 

 life, and man became a living soulP 



380. Some writers have attempted to show that man differs 

 only from the inferior order of animals in possessing a greatei 

 variety of instincts. But however wonderful may appear the 

 instinctive perception of brutes, they are destitute of reason, 

 and incapable of being the subjects of moral government ; we 

 must, theretbre, both from our own observation and the decla- 

 rations of Scripture, infer that the faculties of man differ, not 

 in degree only, but distinctly in their nature^ from those of all 

 other beings upon our globe. 



381. " Man (says Buffon), by his form and the perfection of 

 his organs, and as the only being on earth endowed with rea- 

 son, seems properly placed at the head of the kingdom of na- 

 ture. All in him announces the lord of the earth ; his form 

 marks his superiority over all living beings ; he stands erect, 

 in the attitude of command ; he can gaze upon the heavens ; 

 on his face is imprinted the character of dignity ; the image of 

 his soul is painted upon his features, and tbe excellence of his 

 nature penetrates through his material organs, and animates 

 the expression of his countenance." 



382. In the orders of animals nearest to man we find the 

 senses of sight, touch, taste, and smell, equally perfect as those 

 possessed by him, and in some cases they are even more acute ; 

 but as we proceed downward through the gradations of animal 

 existence, we perceive the number and acuteness of the senses 

 to diminish — we find some beings with but four senses, some 

 with three, others with two, and lastly, in zoophytes, we find 

 only the sense of touch, and that so faintly exhibited as almost 

 to lead us to doubt its existence. 



Let us now return to the distinction between animals and 

 vegetables. We perceive that although we would find no diffi- 

 culty with regard to a nightingale and a rose to discover to 

 which of the kingdoms of nature they belong, yet with respect 

 to a sponge or coral, a mushroom or lichen^ it would be some- 

 what difficult without a previous knowledge of their natural 



379. Man at the head of the animal kingdom.— 380. How resembling inferior animals 1—381. Buf- 

 „fon'3 remarks. — 332. Gradation downward. 



