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MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS, 



No clear ideas have as yet been entertained by the generality 

 of even educated men, with regard to the mental constitution 

 of animals. The very nature of this constitution is not as 

 yet generally known or held as ascertained. There is, indeed, 

 a notion of old standing, that the mind is in some way con- 

 nected with the brain ; but the metaphysicians insist that it 

 is, in reality, known only by its acts or effects, and they 

 accordingly present the subject in a form which is unlike any 

 other kind of science, for it does not so much as pretend to 

 have a basis in nature. There is a general disinclination to 

 regard mind in connexion with organization, from a fear that 

 this must interfere with the cherished religious doctrine of 

 the spirit of man, and lower him to the level of the brutes. 

 A distinction is therefore drawn between our mental mani- 

 festations and those of the lower animals, the latter being 

 comprehended under the term instinct, while ours are col- 

 lectively described as mind, mind being again a received 

 synonyme with soul, the immortal part of man. There is 

 here a strange system of confusion and error, which it is 

 most imprudent to regard as essential to religion, since candid 

 investigations of nature tend to show its untenableness. There 

 is, in reality, nothing to prevent our regarding man as being 

 specially, in accordance with his position as the head or chief 

 of all animals, endowed with an immortal spirit, at the same 



