412 DAWN OF REASON. 



that chemical process which is termed growth. Then 

 from this principle of growth, the root of the human 

 flower, two separated instincts like twin seed-leaves 

 arise. The first is the propensity to preserve self-life 

 hy seeking food ; from this instinct of Self-preserva- 

 tion, our intellectual faculties have been derived. The 

 second is the propensity to preserve the life of the 

 species ; and from this instinct of Reproduction, our 

 moral faculties have been derived. 



The animal at first absorbs its food and unites with 

 its mate as blindly and as helplessly as the crystal 

 shapes itself into its proper form; as oxygen combines 

 with hydrogen, as ships roll towards each other in a 

 calm. How then can a line be drawn between the in- 

 organic and the organic, the lifeless and the alive 1 

 The cell that vibrates in the water, and the crystal 

 that forms in the frost, are each the result of certain 

 forces over which they have no control. But as the 

 body of the animal is developed in complexity by the 

 action of complex forces, certain grey lumps of matter 

 make their appearance within its structure, and out of 

 these rises a spirit which introduces the animal to 

 himself, which makes him conscious of his own exist- 

 ence. He becomes aware that he is alive ; that he 

 has an appetite ; and that other animals have an 

 appetite for him. His mind though feeble and con- 

 tracted is improved by experience. He devises strata- 

 gems to avoid his enemies, or to seize his prey. At 

 certain seasons he becomes conscious of his desire for 

 a mate ; and that which, with his ancestors, was a 

 blind tendency, an inherited part of growth, becomes 

 with him a passion brightened by intelligence. 



It is usually supposed that the transition of an ape- 

 like animal into man is the most remarkable event in 



