Animals. 203 



it, attempt to screen itself when the lion's 

 mouth is opened to devour it. The voice 

 of the mother is not understood for ma- 

 ny weeks ; and it is but by slow degrees 

 that it acquires knowledge,in consequence 

 of the gradual developement of its rea- 

 soning faculties ; but as its progress is 

 more slow, so its ultimate attainments 

 are proportionally greater than that of 

 other animals. The chicken, within the 

 first eight clays of its life, seems to have 

 made nearly the whole mental acquire- 

 ments it is ever capable of attaining; but 

 no period of human life can be assigned 

 when the mental progress of man is at a 

 stand. Man alone is able to form an idea 

 of an abstract proposition or to reason 

 about distant occurrences. He alone can 

 reason from consequences to remote 

 causes, and can from the creature trace 

 an idea of the Creator. A sense of reli- 

 gion, then,is the characteristic peculiarity 

 which decisively marks a separation be- 

 tween man and all other animals. 



But as the understanding of man and 

 the structure of his frame will occupy the 

 following chapters, we will in this con- 

 fine ourselves to a view of the other parts 

 o f a n i t\i at e d n at ur e 



