. O * F APES. 69 



them during the refl: of Hfe : If we fuppofe that 

 a child, hi an equal period, were ftrong enough 

 to quit his parents, and never return to them, 

 would there he any perceptible difference be- 

 tween this infant and a brute ? However inge- 

 nious the parents, they would not have lime fuf- 

 ficient to modify and prepare his organs, or to 

 eftabliili the fmalleft communication of thought 

 between their minds and his. They could not 

 excite his memory by irapreffions frequently. e- 

 nough reiterated. They could not even mollify 

 or unfold the organs of fpeech. Before a child 

 can pronounce a fingle word, his ears muft be 

 ftruck many thouiand times with the fame found; 

 and, before he can make a proper application of 

 it, the fame combination of the v.'ord and the 

 object to which it relates, mufl be many thou- 

 fand times prefented to him. Education, there- 

 fore, which alone can develope the powers of 

 the mind, muft be uninterruptedly continued for 

 a long time. If ftopt, not at two months, as in 

 the animals, but even at the age of one year, the 

 mind of the infant, having received no inftruc- 

 tion, would remain inadive like that of the idiot, 

 the defeat of whofe organs prevents the recep- 

 tion of knowledge. This reafoning would ac- 

 quire redoubled ftrength, if the infant were born 

 in a pure ftate of nature, if it were confined to 

 the fole tutorage of a Hottentot mother, and 

 were enabled by its bodily powers to feparate 

 from her at the age of two months, Would it not 



E 3 fink 



