164 ON CERTAIN MODERN VIEWS 



can support themselves, in equilibrio on one foot, as Man easily does. 

 The Quadrumana are all hylobatic animals. All their limbs are pre- 

 hensile, and, as such, are used as organs of progression. It is true that 

 the extremities of the fore-limbs are employed as hands for conveying 

 food to the mouth, but the same may be stated of several other animals, 

 such as the squirrel, the rat, and the racoon, which, for lack of a 

 thumb, are obliged to make the one fore-pavF oppose the other. The 

 length of the digits and the existence of a, thumb enable the Quadru- 

 mana to grasp tolerably large articles in one extremity. 



Fifthly, Man possesses an acquired voice, or power of articulation 

 for the conveyance and record of ideas. The lower animals, in com- 

 mon with Man, have a natural voice, but where an attempt has been 

 made to teach an acquired voice to any of these, although the physi- 

 cal organs might respond to the effort, yet the want of mental power, 

 to form a continuous succession of ideas, has always limited their 

 speech to a very few words or phrases, which they repeat without any 

 conception of their meaning. They are quite incapable of acquiring lan- 

 guage, properly so called. This distinction between Man and the 

 other animals, being so striking, has been insisted on from a very early 

 period. Readers of Homer will remember how very frequently he ap- 

 plies the adjective ixepoij/ to human beings, and to these alone. Indeed 

 the word is sometimes used in the plural as a noun, signifying 

 "men." 



The last distinctive characteristic which I think necessary to allude 

 to is the superior mental powers and capabilities of Man. These it 

 would, of course, be idle to dwell upon. Although Prof. Huxley tells 

 us that " even the highest faculties of feeling and of intellect begin to 

 germinate in the lower forms of life," and asks with apparent indig- 

 nation, " Is mother-love vile, because a hen shows it, or fidelity base, 

 because dogs possess it 1 " — yet the power and capability of Man's in- 

 tellect are utterly unapproachable by the lower animals. Leaving out 

 of view Man's capacity for civilization — his delight in beauty, truth, 

 and goodness — his ability to interpret the laws of Nature — and his as- 

 pirations after immortality — does not that being rightfully claim to be 

 segregated from all fellowship with brutes, who can turn his thoughts 

 inwards and investigate the mysteries of those laws which regulate the 

 actions of the mind itself, as if the objects of his inquiry were solid 

 and tangible substances lying in the hollow of his hand ; and who can, 

 above all, not only reason reverentially concerning the character and 



