300 



HISTORY OF 



at a time are tlie most complete ; and the foremost of these 

 stands Man, the great master of all, who seems to have lunted 

 the perfections of all the rest in his formation. 



CHAP. III. 



THE INFANCY OF MAN. 



When we take a survey of the various classes of animals, and 

 examine their strength, their beauty, or their structure, we shaJl 

 find man to possess most of those advantages united, which the 

 rest enjoy partially. Infinitely superior to all others in the 

 powers of the understanding, he is also superior to them in the 

 fitness and proportions of his form. He would, indeed, have 

 been one of the most miserable beings upon earth, if with a 

 sentient mind he was so formed as to be incapable of obeying 

 its impulse ; but Nature has otherwise provided j as with the 

 most extensive intellects to command, she has furnished him 

 with a body the best fitted for obedience. 



In infancy,' however, that mind and this body form the most 

 helpless union in all animated nature ; and, if any thing can 

 give us a picture of complete imbecility, it is a man when just 

 come into the world. The infant just born stands in need of 

 all things, without the power of procuring any. The lower races 

 of animals, upon being produced, are active, vigorous, and capa- 

 ble of self-support ; but the infant is obliged to wait in helpless 

 expectation ; and its cries are its only aid to procure subsistence. 



An infant just born may be said to come from one element 

 into another : for, from the watery fluid in which it was sur- 

 rounded, it now immerges into air ; and its first cries seem to 

 imply how greatly it regrets the change. How much longer 

 it could have continued in a state of almost total insensibility in 

 the womb, is impossible to tell ; but it is very probable that it 

 could remain there some hours more. In order to throw some 

 light upon this subject, Mr Buffon so placed a pregnant bitch, 

 as that her puppies were brought forth in warm watei', in which 



1 Buffiin, vol. iv, p. 173. 



