8 MENTAL EVOLUTION IN MAN. 



ventured to dispute that all these instincts are identical with 

 those which we observe in the lower animals ; nor, on the 

 other hand, has any one ventured to suggest that there is any- 

 instinct which can be said to be peculiar to man, unless the 

 moral and religious sentiments are taken to be of the nature 

 of instincts. And although it is true that instinct plays a 

 larger part in the psychology of many animals than it does 

 in the psychology of man, this fact is plainly of no importance 

 in the present connection, where we are concerned only with 

 identity of principle. If any one were childish enough to 

 argue that the mind of a man differs in kind from that of a 

 brute because it does not display any particular instinct — 

 such, for example, as the spinning of webs, the building of 

 nests, or the incubation of eggs, — the answer of course would 

 be that, by parity of reasoning, the mind of a spider must be 

 held to differ in kind from that of a bird. So far, then, as 

 instincts and emotions are concerned, the parallel before us is 

 much too close to admit of any argument on the opposite side. 



With regard to Volition more will be said in a future 

 instalment of this work. Here, therefore, it is enough to say, 

 in general terms, that no one has seriously questioned the 

 identity of kind between the animal and the human will, up 

 to the point at which so-called freedom is supposed by some 

 dissentients to supervene and characterize the latter. Now, 

 of course, if the human will differs from the animal will in 

 any important feature or attribute such as this, the fact must 

 be duly taken into account during the course of our subsequent 

 analysis. At present, however, we are only engaged upon a 

 preliminary sketch of the points of resemblance between 

 animal and human psychology. So far, therefore, as we are 

 now concerned with the will, we have only to note that up to 

 the point where the volitions of a man begin to surpass those 

 of a brute in respect of complexity, refinement, and foresight, 

 no one disputes identity of kind. 



Lastly, the same remark applies to the faculties of Intellect* 



• Of course my opponents will not allow that this word can be properly 

 applied to the psychology of any brute. But I am not now using it in a question- 



