366 OF THE NATURE 



If internal fenfation depended on corporeal 

 organs, fhould not as great a variety appear in 

 the operations of the fame fpecies of animals, as 

 in thofe of men ? Would not thofe endowed 

 with finer organs build their nefts, and their 

 cells, in a manner more folid, elegant, and com- 

 modious? If any individual had more genius 

 ;than another, would it not be rendered confpi^ 

 cuous by its mode of adling? But nothing of 

 this kind is ever exhibited: The greater or lef- 

 fer perfedion of corporeal organs, therefore, has 

 no influence upon the nature of internal fenfa- 

 tion. From this circumftance, we may fafely 

 conclude, that animals poflefs no fenfations of 

 this kind; that they neither belong to matter, 

 nor depend* as to their nature, upon the texture 

 of corporeal organs ; and of courfe that there 

 is in man a fubftance totally diftind: from mat- 

 ter, which is the fubjedl and the cauie that pro- 

 duce thefe fenfation^. 



But thefe proofs of the immateriality of the 

 human mind may be extended itill farther. We 

 have often remarked, thac Nature proceeds ia 

 her operations by imperceptible degrees. This 

 truth, which otherwife admits of no exception, 

 is here totally reveried. Between the faculties 

 of man and thofe of the moll minute animal, 

 the diftance is infinite. This is a clear proof, 

 that the nature of man is different from that of 

 the brute creation ; that he himfelf conftitutes a 

 feparate clafs from which there are numberlefs 



degrees 



