Hitman Physiology. 143 



picture to the brain. Their ears have the same adaptation to 

 the sound waves of the atmosphere. Their brains, as far as 

 they go, are so like our own, that I doubt if the microscope 

 can show any difference in the matter of which they are com- 

 posed. They breathe, digest, circulate their blood, and carry 

 on all the functions and processes of life in the same manner ; 

 and to a great extent they feel and think as we do. They 

 remember, dream, perhaps meditate, and love. The affection, 

 fidelity, and devotion of animals are sometimes very touching. 

 The dog perceives that his master is about to die, and sheds 

 tears of inconsolable grief. He follows him to the grave, and 

 watches by it until his own life is ended. 



The charm of Natural History is a sympathy we have with 

 all life, recognising the similarities, as well as the diversities, of 

 its manifestations. We get acquainted with our relations- 

 the near and more remote branches of our family ; and animals 

 are interesting to us just in proportion as we find our own 

 qualities in them, or theirs in ourselves. Recognising their 

 superior powers, and even envying them as the bird's power 

 to fly, or the fish's to swim, or their mysterious instinctive facul- 

 ties we have a sense of intellectual and moral superiority, 

 and capability of continued existence and progress, which 

 makes us feel ourselves to be, with all our imperfections and 

 depravities, monarchs of the visible creation. 



We recognise a unity of life on the earth. The same Intel- 

 ligence and Power has formed and sustains all things. Every 

 creature shows the design and workmanship of the same Artist. 

 The same plan and skill run through all. Matter and mind 

 are governed by general laws, and universal analogy is the law 

 of matter and of life. 



I place under a microscope a dozen points of matter, cells 

 filled with a liquid, all looking alike, and all composed of the 

 same kind of matter carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen all 

 made of albumen and fibrine; all alive; but differing from each 



