308 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



of his class that it is deemed better to place him at their head 

 under the designation of "two-handed;" although indeed 

 he is the only animal who can be said to possess hands, 

 properly so called, for those of the Monkey tribe are so 

 imperfectly developed that they have but little claim to 

 the name. 



In his circulation, respiration, digestion, &c., Man exactly 

 resembles the other Mammalia, also in the organs of loco- 

 motion and special sense, modified slightly in form ; but to 

 these purely animal attributes, he has superadded faculties 

 which raise him above them, and show him to be the last 

 and most perfect of G-od's creatures, one step further, in 

 fact, than any other living being ; and it is a curious circum- 

 stance, and one showing the accuracy of detail, with which 

 the Mosaic account of Creation in the Bible abounds, that 

 this very superiority is not only mentioned in many ways, 

 but recorded as the result of a special act of God over and 

 above his formation as an ordinary animal, in which state 

 he was created, for we find the words, " and breathed into 

 his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" 

 this especial act was not performed for any other being 

 which G-od had created, of which it is stated simply " male 

 and female created He them." 



Man is possessed of sentiments (or those feelings which 

 prompt him to believe in, look forward to, and hope for a 

 higher state of existence, than that which he enjoys here) 

 which none of the lower animals have, and of reason in 

 place of instinct. There is certainly a vast difference 

 between the two, although many would have us believe the 

 one is the same as the other, but of a higher order; 

 instinct causes its possessor to act from innate impulse 

 without consciousness of the result, while reason points 

 out "the why and the wherefore." Man is conscious of 

 his own identity, this is also peculiar to him ; moreover, all 

 the performances of man can be improved by practice, none 

 of the instincts can, but are as perfect at first as at last ; 

 the Bee makes the comb, and the Bird the nest, as well the 

 first time as the last, and although the higher animals, as 

 the Dog, Horse, Elephant, &c., can be taught to perform 



