384 



CLASS MAMMALIA. 



the phenomena immediately previous, in the order of suc- 

 cession, to the phenomena of instinctive and intelligent 

 action. Could this be completely performed, we should be 

 enabled to ascertain the line of separation between human 

 and brute intelligence, which undoubtedly ought to be the 

 chief, and perhaps the sole object of all researches of this 

 kind. 



Unfortunately, we have not the means within our power 

 of completely resolving this problem. Before we could do 

 so, it would be necessary to possess a scientific classifica- 

 tion, a sort of entire synopsis of all the modifications which 

 the human understanding can experience. In other words, 

 it would be necessary to have a list of all the operations of 

 which it is susceptible, or of the ideas which it can obtain. 

 We are far from possessing any thing of this description 

 sufficiently adequate to our purpose ; on the other hand, 

 be it also remembered that we can have no direct know- 

 ledge of the intellectual acts, of the internal emotions of any 

 beings but ourselves. By the faculty of consciousness, a 

 man becomes acquainted with what passes within himself; 

 through the medium of language, he becomes acquainted 

 with what passes within his fellow-men. But in the case 

 of animals, the same degree of certainty is far from being 

 attainable. There is no common language between us, 

 sufficiently intelligible for the purpose. It is only by induc- 

 tion and analogy that we are enabled to form any judgment 

 of the intellectual acts which must precede their actions. It 

 is only from their actions, from their organic movements, 

 that we can draw our conclusions ; and certainly it must be 

 allowed that many different causes may give rise to similar 

 organic movements. 



Still, however, enough remains to enable us to draw con- 

 clusions, which have at least the strongest probability on 

 their side ; and this is all we can hope to arrive at. When 

 the quantity of information we possess on any subject is 



