144 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



what nearer to the apes than to the bears, but 

 still at a very remote distance from them, and 

 this indicated by peculiarities of brain-case, jaws, 

 and teeth, proving divergences in function still 

 wider than those apparent in the structures. 

 They would also plainly perceive that to link 

 man with his nearest mammalian' allies would 

 require the discovery of several missing links. 

 When we consider the psychological endow- 

 ments of man, his divergence from lower 

 animals becomes immensely greater. In his 

 external senses and in the perceptions derived 

 through them it is true he resembles the brutes. 

 There is also much in common with them in 

 his appetites and emotions, and in some of the 

 lower manifestations of intelligence. But he 

 adds to this a higher reason, which causes his 

 actions to be differently determined from theirs ; 

 and this higher reason, or spiritual nature, leads 

 him to abstract ideas, to consciousness, to 

 notions of right and of wrong, to ideas of 

 higher spiritual beings and of futurity alto- 

 gether unknown to lower animals. This divine 

 reason, in connection with special vocal con- 

 trivances, also bestows on him the gift of 

 speech. Nor can speech be reduced to a 

 mere imitation of natural sounds ; for, grant- 



