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VESTIGES OF THE 



tending more to the indefinite mode of manifestation. 

 And for this there is the obvious reason in providence, 

 that the lowest animals have all of them a very limited 

 sphere of existence, born only to perform a few functions, 

 and enjoy a brief term of life, and then give way to 

 another generation, so that they do not need much 

 mental guidance. At higher points in the scale, the 

 sphere of existence is considerably extended, and the 

 mental operations are less definite accordingly. The 

 horse, dog, and a few other rasorial types, noted for 

 their serviceableness to our race, have the indefinite 

 powers in no small endowment. Man, again, shows 

 very little of the definite mode of operation, and that 

 little chiefly in childhood, or in barbarism or idiocy. 

 Destined for a wide field of action, and to be applicable 

 to infinitely varied contingencies, he has all the faculties 

 developed to a high pitch of indefiniteness, that he may 

 be ready to act well in all imaginable cases. His com- 

 mission, it may be said, gives large discretionary powers, 

 v/hile that of the inferior animals is limited to a few 

 precise directions. But when the human brain is con- 

 genitally imperfect or diseased, or when it is in the state 

 of infancy, we see in it an approach towards the charac- 

 ter of the brains of some of the inferior animals. Dr. 

 J. G. Davey states that he has frequently witnessed, 

 among his patients at the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, 

 indications of a particular abnormal cerebration which 

 forcibly reminded him of the specific healthy character- 

 istics of animals lower in the scale of organisation ; * and 

 every one must have observed how often the actions of 

 children, especially in their moments of play, and where 

 their selfish feelings are concerned, bear a resemblance 



* Phrenolofjical Jovrnnl, xv. 338. 



