4 MAN'S ERRORS. 



sion to the one and of reason to the other ; the confusion 

 between instinct and reason ; the attribution to instinct in 

 other animals of what would be assigned to reason in man. 



2. The belief that animals are mere ' animated machines ' 

 (Descartes), and that animal reason is ' mechanical ' in its 

 nature or action (Buffon). 



3. The confounding of mere reflex or automatic action 

 with expressions of pain for instance, in the decapitated 

 frog. 



4. The supposition, on the other hand, that animals are 

 insensible to, or insusceptible of, ordinary physical pain for 

 instance, the rhinoceros and beetle. 



5. Baron Cuvier's misstatements as to the mental en- 

 dowments of, or rather their absence in, fishes, while alto- 

 gether his conceptions on the subject of mind in the lower 

 animals were both limited and incorrect. 



6. The inference of Principal Caird of Glasgow the 

 common outcome of the theological intellect that the dog, 

 for instance, wants the ' spirit ' of man, and cannot therefore 

 ' know the things of man ' whatever such an expression 

 may mean. He speaks of the ' irrational animal that cannot 

 appreciate man's words or acts, that is inapprehensive of 

 man's thought and feeling,' while he admits a certain ' rude 

 intelligence ' of its master's will. 



7. Kirby talking of the ' half-reasoning ' beaver and the 

 'irrational' animal. 



8. The misconceptions, even in physiologists, as . to the 

 brain-functions in man (Professor Rutherford). 



9. The conviction that the brain is the sole organ of mind 

 in man. 



10. The association of intelligence, as to its kind or 

 degree, with the mere size either of brain or body. 



11. The undeserved bad reputations of certain animals, 

 and the supposed good ones of certain others ; that is to say, 

 misconceptions concerning their real character their virtues 

 on the one hand and their vices on the other embodied, for 

 instance, in popular emblems, legends, proverbs, fables, or 

 fiction. 



12. The inference of the late Sir Benjamin Brodie that 



