MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN. 147 



order that these may be hereditarily transmitted, they must not 

 be foreign to their natural character. This may be accomplished 

 in a still higher degree, in regard to Man. Under the influence 

 of Education, corporeal and mental, continued through successive 

 generations, the capabilities of his whole nature, and especial!}' 

 those of his brain, are called out ; so that the general character 

 of the race is greatly improved. On the other haiid, under the 

 influence of a degraded condition, there is an equally certain 

 falling-back ; and the longer this operates, the more difficulty 

 will there be in again elevating the race. Hence, to bring up 

 the New Holland Savage, or the African Bushman, to the level 

 of the European, would probably require centuries of civilization. 



137. One of the most important aids to the use and develop- 

 ment of the Human mind, is the power of producing articulate 

 sounds, or language; of which, as far as we know, Man is the 

 only animal in possession. There is no doubt, that in many 

 other species, certain powers of communication exist ; but these 

 are probably very limited, and of a kind very different from a 

 verbal language, more resembling, in fact, the language of signs. 

 How little this can convey, in comparison with verbal language!, 

 we can only realize when we attempt to hold converse with a 

 foreigner whose tongue we do not understand, or with one of 

 those unfortunate persons, in whom there is deficiency of the 

 powers of hearing and speech. In fact, such language can only 

 apply to things ; and cannot express those general and abstract 

 ideas, which form a large part of our own current of thought. 

 For example, we could not convey by signs the qualities of hard- 

 ness or softness, smoothness or roughness, without referring to 

 some object which exhibits them. And all we know of the 

 mental habits of the lower animals leads to the belief, that in 

 such general ideas they are completely deficient. Above all, it 

 would seem that the mind of Man is distinguished from theirs 

 by the faculty of conceiving of a Superior Being, enjoying a 

 purely spiritual existence, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omni- 

 present (ANIM. PHYSIOL. 721, 722). 



138. It is well known that there is a considerable variety of 

 races of men ; differing from each other, not only in language, 



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