80 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



to hold that the immortal part in animals having 

 higher than automatic endowments is external to 

 the nervous mechanism in them as well as in man ? 

 What are we to say if we find that straightforward- 

 ness may lead us to the conclusion that Agassiz 

 was not unjustifiable when he affirmed, in the name 

 of science, that instinct may be immortal, and 

 when he expressed, in his own name, the ardent 

 hope that it might be so. Shall we, too, not hope 

 that this highest conception of paradise may be the 

 true one ? Would it not be a diminution of su- 

 preme bliss not to have union with God through 

 these, the most majestic of His works below our- 

 selves ? " 



Agassiz, the greatest scientist we ever have had 

 on this continent, and a man of profound religious 

 convictions, was a firm believer in some future life 

 for lower animals. He says : " Most of the argu- 

 ments of philosophy in favor of the immortality of 

 man apply equally to the permanency of the im- 

 mortal principle in other living beings. May I not 

 add that a future life in which man should be 

 deprived of that great source of enjoyment, and 

 intellectual and moral improvement, which result 

 from the contemplation of the harmonies of an 



