Chap. II.] MENTAL POWERS. 61 



every atom of his brain had probably undergone change 

 more than once during the interval of five years. This 

 dog might have brought forwai'd the argument lately ad- 

 vanced to crush all evolutionists, and said, " I abide amid 

 all jnental moods and all material changes. . . . The 

 teaching that atoms leave their impressions as legacies to 

 other atoms falling into the places they have vacated is 

 contradictory of the utterance of consciousness, and is 

 therefore false ; but it is the teaching necessitated by evo- 

 lutionism, consequently the hypothesis is a false one." " 



Sense of Beauty. — This sense has been declared to be 

 peculiar to man. But when we behold male birds elabo- 

 rately displaying their plumes and sj)lendid colors before 

 the females, while other birds not thus decorated make 

 no such display, it is impossible to doubt that the females 

 admire the beauty of their male partners. As women 

 everywhere deck themselves with these plumes, the beauty 

 of such ornaments cannot be disputed. The Bower-birds 

 by tastefully ornamenting their playing-passages with 

 gayly-colored objects, as do certain humming-birds their 

 nests, ofi'er additional evidence that they possess a sense 

 of beauty. So with the song of birds, the sweet strains 

 poured forth by the males during the season of love are 

 certainly admired by the females, of which fact evidence 

 will hereafter be given. If female birds had been in- 

 capable of appreciating the beautiful colors, the orna- 

 ments, and voices of their male partners, all the labor and 

 anxiety exhibited by them in displaying their charms be- 

 fore the females would have been thrown away ; and this 

 it is impossible to admit. "Why certain bright colors and 

 certain sounds should excite pleasure, when in harmony, 

 cannot, I presume, be explained any more than why cer- 

 tain flavors and scents are agreeable ; but assuredly the 



« The Rev, Dr. J. M'Cann, 'Anti-Darwinism,' 1869, p. 13. 



