SUPREMACY OF MAN. 125 



conclusion commends itself as a judicially fair inference 

 from the facts. 



Man's claim to pre-eminence on the ground of the unique- 

 ness of his mental constitution is as absurd and puerile, there- 

 fore, as it is fallacious. His overweening pride or vanity has 

 led to his futile contention with the evidence of facts. He has 

 trusted to a series of gratuitous assumptions. The supposed 

 criteria of human supremacy, as the preceding chapter has 

 shown, the alleged psychical distinctions between man and 

 other animals, cannot stand examination. One after another 

 they have proved to be fallacious, built upon unsatisfactory 

 grounds. A careful consideration of the whole argument 

 for and against man's psychical supremacy, a thoughtful 

 analysis of the alleged or supposed mental differences be- 

 tween him and all other animals, must lead to the conclusion 

 that these differences are superficial and apparent rather 

 than radical and real. That man's specific designation, then 

 Homo sapiens is far from being generally deserved or 

 appropriate becomes obvious when we compare him in his 

 lowest savage or primitive condition with such other animals 

 as the dog or the ant. 



