Rea] AND SYMBOLS. 297 



which, by capsizing the frail skiff, may provide his ravenous maw 

 with food. Frequently, too, on tempestuous nights, when the 

 wind and the sea seem to howl a funeral dirge, the shark appears 

 in the midst of the heaving billows ; the seamen recognise his 

 presence by the phosphorescence the " elfish light " that glints 

 from his shining scales, and know that he lusts after a victim. 

 In tropical waters he follows the ships with indefatigable 

 patience, ready to swallow the unfortunate who may fall over- 

 board. Like some cruel men he anticipates the suffering and 

 misfortune of others, in order that he may turn them to a per- 

 sonal advantage. MY. 



The Physiognomy of Rapacious Instincts. 



Rapacious instincts show themselves in the physical configu- 

 ration. Look at a crowd of men. It is not the man with the 

 calm expansive forehead and the genial eye who is the 

 soldier. It is that man of brutal brow, keen cold glance, and 

 whose features are like a hawk. What a contrast his nil 

 admirari fierceness offers to the bright intelligent movements 

 of many in the crowd on whom he turns his military scowl ! 

 The physiognomy of rapacious instincts is equally well marked 

 in birds. Michelet bids us to observe that birds of prey, with 

 their small brains, offer a striking contrast to the numerous 

 amiable and plainly intelligent species which we find among 

 the smaller birds. The head of the former is only a beak ; that 

 of the latter has a face. What comparison can be made between 

 these brute giants and the intelligent, all-human bird, the robin 

 redbreast ! T. B. 



The Reasoning Power in Animals. 



Man has been justly said to be supreme over the other 

 creatures as the tool-making and tool-using animal. We 

 observe, however, some efforts at the use of tools, though but 

 imperfect, in the elephant, who carries a leafy branch in his 

 trunk to shade himself from the sun ; in the ape, who puts a 

 stone into an open oyster to prevent it from closing, or lifts a 

 stone to break nuts, or beats the elephant's trunk or his fellow- 



