VIII. TO EDMONTON. 



be both useless and dangerous to endeavour 

 to overleap them. 



Let us then cease to regret that man, \vho 

 can understand and classify all the produc- 

 tions of Nature, is ignorant of the springs 

 ivhicii actuate the smallest member of his 

 body. It is sufficient for us to study the 

 admirable faculties of the mind, to consider 

 the eiiectsof that reason which is our noblest 

 attribute, and to acknowledge the immense 

 distance which separates us from the brute 

 creation. From their birth the instinct of 

 animals is complete ; man alone, in proportion 

 as his faculties become unfolded, acquires 

 real knowledge, examines and studies him- 

 self, and seeks to discover in what relation 

 be stands to the beings by whom he is sur- 

 rounded. Let us not imagine that the de- 







velopmcnt of reason is alone the conse- 

 quence of education, that the faculties of 

 savages are almost as limited as the blind 

 instinct of animals, and that a great barrier 



separates, 



