208 THE NATURE OF ANIMALITY. 



and man respectively, that we should possess clear conceptions 

 of the relative conditions of animal and hmnan life. 



4. I shall devote this lecture, therefore, to the considera- 

 tion of the conditions of existence of the animal, and to the 

 question as to the nature of animality. 



5. My second lecture will involve the consideration of the 

 condition of human existence ; and of the question as to the 

 essence of humanity. We shall then be prepared for the con- 

 sideration of the special subject of the course. 



6. The conditions of existence of an animal are indicated 

 in the constitution of its specific economy. A species can only 

 exist over a geographical area having certain conditions of 

 geological structure, of climate, and of animal and vegetable 

 forms. The characters of the living economy of an animal 

 species may, indeed, become more or less modified, or the 

 number of its individuals may diminish, in accordance with 

 modifications in the cosmical conditions of its area of distri- 

 bution. But there is a limit to such 'permitted modifications 

 of specific character ; and if the cosmical conditions of its ex- 

 istence pass these limits, the species disappears. 



7. In a subsequent part of the course, I shall state the 

 grounds on which we are compelled to assume that each 

 species of animal was directly created for its proper area. In 

 the meantime, I lay before you two important principles, 

 which I may state thus ; — 



1st. The conscious element of an animal is virtually the ani- 

 mal itself; for it is that, failing which the body of the animal 

 would have had no existence. It is that element in the animal 

 constitution which is immutable. For although the constituent 

 parts of the corporeal structure of the horse, dog, or pigeon, 

 along with the instincts co-ordinate with those parts, may, by 

 certain natural or artificial rearrangements of the specific con- 

 ditions of the animal's existence, undergo very great modifica- 

 tions, nevertheless, the fundamental attributes of its conscious 



