202 Animate* 



Various are the corporeal forms, and 

 great are the peculiarities of organization 

 of the different animals which inhabit the 

 globe ; and equally various are their in- 

 tellectual powers; beginning with man, 

 who forms the highest link in the chain, 

 and descending by an almost impercepti- 

 ble diminution of mental powers, through 

 an innumerable series of existences, and 

 ending at last in mere animation alone, 

 with a seeiuing privation of all mental 

 perception whatever. 



As an animal, man is strikingly dis- 

 tinguishable from the rest of the crea- 

 tures of the earth, on account of the in- 

 genuity with which he eir ploys the pro- 

 ductions of nature for his accommoda- 

 tion and comfort. He is also particular- 

 ly distinguishable by the originality of 

 his ideas. Instincts, in common with 

 brutes, make up a part of his character; 

 but he is principally the creature of ex- 

 perience ancl reflection. When an infant 

 comes into the world it is the most help- 

 less of all creatures ; no danger alarms 

 it, nor can it make the smallest effort to 

 preserve itself. A tiger may approach 

 it without occasioning terror ; nor would 



