REASON. 151 



creasing predominance of the animal over the moral and 

 intellectual nature. If therefore we consider the brain 

 as the exclusive organ of the moral and intellectual fa- 

 culties, and the rest of the nervous system, as that of the 

 senses merely, then certainly the comparison of the 

 cranium and face, must throw considerable light on the 

 dispositions and capacities of animals. 



Emily. What would be the result of such a compa- 

 rison in man ? 



Dr. B. Man has the largest cranium with the 

 smallest face, and his intellectual, compared with his ani- 

 mal faculties, are greatly superior to those of any other 

 animal. 



Reason, or intelligence, whatever we choose to call it, 

 is not peculiar to man, but exists in the brutes in various 

 degrees of perfection. 



Emily. Brutes have instinct, it is true, but I 

 thought this was very different indeed from reason. 



Dr. B. It is ; but the brutes, as well as man, have 

 a certain degree of each. Instinct impels them to the 

 performance of certain actions necessary to fulfil the 

 purposes of their nature, without premeditation or design. 

 Thus, when the young pup is thrown for the first time 

 into the water, or the new-born babe placed at the ma- 

 ternal breast, it is instinct which impels each to a most 

 complicated series of muscular motions but which are ne- 

 cessary for the preservation of life. But reason, consider- 

 ed as the power of " shaping means to ends," though 

 possessed in some degree by the brutes, exists in man 

 in its highest state. Its ceaseless action is carrying on 

 the species in its unlimited progress, and indissolubly 

 associating the happiness of the individual, with that of 

 the whole community. 



Emily. And in the brutes too, the deductions of 

 reason, as you are pleased to call it, are confined to the 

 individual he alone enjoys their benefits. But in man, 

 they constitute a common stock, to which all contribute, 

 and from which, all receive a share. 



