570 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTIONS. 



some rare occasions, of devising expedients for 

 accomplishing particular ends. But still this 

 knowledge and these efforts of intellect are con- 

 fined within very narrow limits ; for nature has 

 assigned boundaries to the advancement of the 

 lower animals, which they can never pass. If 

 one favoured individual be selected for a special 

 education, some additional share of intelligence 

 may, perhaps, with infinite pains, be infused ; 

 but the improvement perishes with that indivi- 

 dual, and is wholly lost to the race. By far the 

 greater portion of that knowledge which it im- 

 ports them to possess is the gift of nature, who 

 has wisely implanted such instinctive impulses 

 as are necessary for their preservation. Man 

 also is born with instincts, but they are few in 

 number compared with those of the lower ani- 

 mals, and unless cultivated and improved by 

 reason and education, would, of themselves, pro- 

 duce but inconsiderable results. That of which 

 the effects are most conspicuous, and which is 

 the foundation of all that is noble and exalted in 

 our nature, is the instinct of Sympathy. The 

 affections of the lower animals, even between 

 individuals of the same species, are observable 

 only in a few instances : for in general they are 

 indifferent to each other's joys or sufferings, and 

 regardless of the treatment experienced by their 

 companions. The attachment, indeed, of the 

 mother to her offspring, as long as its wants and 



