388 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



be limited, so is the number of ideas, so is the memory; the 

 associations are consequently unvaried, and the judgments 

 few, and resulting from very simple processes of com- 

 parison. That this conclusion is warranted by the observa- 

 tion of the actions of animals cannot be denied, ex- 

 cept in the case of those instinctive operations which have 

 nothing to do with the present question. 



That animals can compare two or more objects present 

 to their senses, discern some of their relations, and execute 

 an act of judgment thereupon, is clear; the actions of the 

 Elephant above quoted would be sufficient to prove this 

 fact. That they can compare a present object of perception 

 with one that is past, the traces of which are in their me- 

 mory, is also indisputable. But that they can compare 

 two ideas of memory together is more than we can tell. 

 None, however, of their actions will bear us out in main- 

 taining the affirmative. An immediate appeal to the senses 

 seems always necessary to stimulate their intelligent facul- 

 ties into action. It is certain that we cannot tell to what 

 modes and forms their perceptions are subjected, nor what 

 are the precise relations which they are incapable of seizing ; 

 but, at least, we can make a probable guess on the subject. 



If animals are incapable of comparing two ideas of 

 memory, it of course follows that they are incapable of all 

 the more complex processes performed by human intelli- 

 gence ; that they are incapable of pursuing any train of 

 consecutive ideas ; that perhaps they have no complex ideas 

 at all ; that they do not possess the powers of generaliza- 

 tion or abstraction, which depend on language; and above 

 all, are utterly destitute of the faculty of imagination. 



Still further, even in the objects presented to their senses 

 they are incapable of discerning many relations ; they seem 

 to have no idea of beauty or deformity, of symmetry or dis- 

 proportion ; their ideas of figure do not appear to be very 

 exact, nor those of colour very distinct in general. Mag- 



