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MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS. 



It has been one of the most agreeable tasks of modern 

 science to trace the wonderfully exact adaptations of the 

 organisation of animals to the physical circumstances 

 amidst which they are destined to live. From the man- 

 dibles of insects to the hand of man, all is seen to be in 

 the most harmonious relation to the things of the out- 

 ward world, thus clearly proving that design presided 

 in the creation of the whole — design again implying a 

 designer, another word for a Creator. 



It would be tiresome to present in this place even a 

 selection of the proofs which have been adduced on this 

 point. The "Natural Theology" of Paley, and the 

 " Bridgewater Treatises," place the subject in so clear 

 a light, that the general postulate may be taken for 

 granted. The physical constitution of animals is, then, 

 to be regarded as in the nicest congruity and adaptation 

 to the external world. 



Less clear ideas have hitherto been entertained on the 

 mental constitution of animals. The very nature of this 

 constitution is not as yet generally known or held as 

 ascertained. There is, indeed, a notion of old standing, 

 that the mind is in some way connected with the brain ; 

 but the metaphysicians insist that it is, in reality, known 

 only by its acts or effects, and they accordingly present 

 the subject in a form which is unlike any other kind of 



