XVI INTRODUCTION. 



the time having not yet come for full generalisation on such a 

 subject as mind in the lower, and especially in the lowest, 

 animals. We want a much greater number of exact and 

 indisputable facts, which must then be duly arranged and 

 indexed ; and then, and not till then, shall we be in a posi- 

 tion to draw legitimate inferences of an equally compre- 

 hensive and accurate kind. 



I profess to deal only with the facts of observation, and 

 with the scientific or logical inferences that may be based 

 upon, or drawn from, such facts. I have omitted, therefore, 

 every topic, however interesting in itself, that does not 

 admit of scientific demonstration or legitimate argument or 

 inference in other words, all that belongs to the region of 

 pure speculation. Thus I feel myself compelled to omit a 

 series of chapters on the soul and its immortality in the 

 lower animals, concerning which much has been written by 

 some of the most celebrated divines and philosophers of 

 their day, the affirmative opinions expressed by them 

 being such as even nowadays would probably be re- 

 garded as heterodox. But neither in man nor in other 

 animals does soul admit of scientific demonstration, defini- 

 tion, or discussion at all. Only lately the question has been 

 seriously started, ' Have savages souls ? ' and so long as 

 this is a matter of doubt I may be excused from discussing 

 the possession or non-possession of soul by the so-called in- 

 ferior creatures. I prefer leaving the subject of its presence 

 or absence its immortality or annihilation in the lower 

 animals to those divines or philosophers so called who 

 consider themselves qualified to deal with abstruse specula- 

 tive questions that belong to the debatable ground equally 

 of theology and metaphysics. 



There are certain other topics all interesting in them- 

 selves which I. have also altogether omitted, or have simply 

 alluded to, as being more suitable for exposition in purely 

 medical, scientific, or philosophical works or journals. 



To save repetitions in the body of the work, and to afford 

 the means of identification by foreign as well as by British 

 naturalists, I have deemed it desirable to append a list of 

 the scientific as well as the common names of the various 

 animals referred to throughout the volume. 



