122 



MAMMALIA. 



dence of time and space which are evinced by the 

 mental principle ; whereas, though the animal prin- 

 ciple may be rapid in some cases and slow in others, 

 it always requires some time to produce even the 

 simplest effect ; and though the organisation in which 

 it displays itself occupies a very small space in some 

 instances, and a comparatively large space in others, 

 yet it always requires some space. Mind, on the 

 other ha.nd, requires neither time nor space. The 

 swiftest animal the bird which can fly or the whale 

 which can swim at the rate of more than one hundred 

 miles in the hour, would require at least ten days to 

 circumnavigate the globe, whereas thought, the only 

 exercise of mind which we know, and the most direct 

 evidence which we have of its existence, can go to 

 the remotest star to every star in the universe, in 

 less time than the twinkling oi an eye in tact, in no 

 time at all. So also, in regard of space, the most 

 minute animal must have a passage opened for it ; 

 but mind requires no physical opening no separation 

 of matter to make room for its march, for thought 

 can pierce through the solid globe, in a nameless 

 fraction of the time which it requires to raise the foot 

 in taking one step across a room. 



A clear understanding of the difference between 

 mental action and animal action (for though we speak 

 of the principle of the being in both cases, it is the 

 action alone which comes properly under our cogni- 

 sance as matter of philosophy) is of the utmost 

 importance at the very commencement of our study 

 of animal physiology. The reason is obvious almost 

 self-evident indeed. It is impossible for us to avoid 

 making ourselves the standard in all investigations of 

 this kind ; and as both reason and revelation teach 

 us that we ourselves are possessed of a mind, or 

 intellectual principle, while all the objects of our 

 senses, and subjects of our physiological considerations, 

 with the exception of our fellow men, are destitute of 

 this intellectual principle, it becomes necessary that 

 we should be able, in as far as such an analysis is 

 possible, to separate it from the standard before we 

 proceed with our comparisons. To do this completely 

 may not be possible in all cases, or even in any one 

 case, but we ought always to bear its existence in mind 

 and make allowance for it. This circumstance alone 

 ought to teach us to be humble, and to beware of 

 dogmatism upon those very recondite points of philo- 

 sophy, if we have any desire of arriving at the truth. 



There is another elementary consideration, which it 

 is necessary that we should well and thoroughly under- 

 stand, in order to prepare us for entering upon the sub- 

 ject of animal physiology with proper understanding, 

 and to profitable use. This is the distinction between 

 created and finite though intelligent spirit, as it exists 

 in man, and infinite, uncreated, and omniscient spirit, 

 as it can exist in God only. It is not necessary to 

 a right understanding of animal physiology that we 

 should enter into the minutiae of tin's last doctrine, or 

 that we should show how perfectly consistent the 

 whole tenor of scripture history, and the doctrine of 

 the fall and redemption of the human race, are with 

 the physiology of the entire system of nature, when 

 that physiology is studied in the proper manner. 

 We may mention, however, that those geological and 

 other fancied contradictions of Holy Writ, which 

 have sometimes been brought forward, will, upon 

 examining .carefully the characters and even the 

 statements of their authors, invariably be found to 

 have had an origin previous to that study of nature of 



which they profess to be consequences, and that they 

 are thus in reality errors and perversions of the study 

 of nature, arising from scepticism produced by earlier 

 causes. The object of the Bible is not to teach man 

 anything of which man can acquire the knowledge 

 without its assistance. God has endowed man with 

 perception, understanding, and judgment, perfectly 

 adequate to the acquiring of every species of natural 

 knowledge which is either pleasurable to the mind or 

 profitable in the arts ; and therefore, if God had given 

 man a direct revelation of these things, in addition to 

 this natural capacity of finding them out, man would 

 have been a perfect anomaly in creation, because he 

 would have been the only creature furnished with 

 two distinct and opposite means of arriving at the 

 same results, whereas every thing else in nature is 

 perfect, and, with its single adaptation, the very best- 

 fitted for its particular purpose. 



We shall suppose, for the sake of the argument, as 

 it is both a strong and a useful one, that the Volume 

 of Inspiration had taught man,in the plainest language, 

 and with the utmost minuteness of detail, every dis- 

 covery which science has made, and every application 

 of such discoveries to the arts ; and having made this 

 supposition, we would bid the readerjust ask himself 

 what sort of creature would man have been under 

 these circumstances ? Is it not plain that he would 

 have been incapable of appreciating the discoveries, or 

 availing himself of the applications. It is not the mere 

 ultimate discovery, the simple fact that a truth has been 

 arrived at, which draws forth and elevates the human 

 character, and gives that elasticity and importance to 

 the mind which send it bounding onward in the career of 

 philosophical knowledge and useful execution with con- 

 stantly accelerating speed. It is the labour of arriving 

 at the discovery ; and the moment of success, though 

 it be a moment of exultation, is really a pause in the 

 mind's career. When we examine closely the history 

 of human nature, whether in the individual or in the 

 aggregate, we (ind that the adaptation of knowledge 

 to man, and of man to knowledge, is as beautiful and 

 as perfect as any one of those other countless adap- 

 tations which we witness around us. The senses of 

 the body are the primary inlets of all our knowledge 

 of nature ; and in proportion as these are exercised 

 in observing, and the relations of the observed tacts 

 are traced, we find increased enjoyment and aug- 

 mented pleasure going hand in hand with what is 

 known ; and thus the lot of every man remorse 

 for crime apart is nearly as happy as that of any 

 other ; that is, the measure of happiness is about 

 equally full to all, though its capacity is very different 

 in different individuals. Imagine it otherwise or 

 that the whole of natural knowledge, even as it now 

 stands, had been declared to all mankind by direct 

 revelation, and it must at once be perceived that the 

 world would have been a scene of insupportable 

 misery, because the vast quantity of knowledge with- 

 out object, of desire without gratification, which would 

 have been possessed by a vast majority of mankind, 

 would have been torment not to be borne. But, 

 according to the wise ordinance to man in nature, the 

 craving and the supply come together, and upon the 

 whole bear a very exact ratio of equality. Not that 

 they are mathematically equal, for it is the desire which 

 is the vital or improving principle ; and therefore the 

 perfect working of the human system, that is the 

 rational system of man, demands that desire should 

 keep a little a-heuil, for a reason similar to that upon 



