SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OP MAN. 113 



excited the surmises of speculative men, it remains 

 to advert to those peculiarities which separate man 

 from the rest of the animal creation in regard to the 

 brain. 



The immense superiority of man over other ani- 

 mals in mental faculties, has naturally led us to look 

 for some corresponding peculiarities in the human 

 brain, which we know to be the seat of all the senses* 

 and have every reason to suppose to be the instru- 

 ment or organ of thought and reflection. 



The grand endowment of the human mind, the 

 original quality which seems to distinguish it 

 from its first being embodied in a material frame, 

 is capability. Man as we see him around us morally 

 speaking is the creature of art and education, his 

 susceptibility is brought into action, and he be- 

 comes elevated, as it were above the earth ; but as 

 we read of him in his natural state, or even in the 

 partially cultivated condition of pastoral life, he 

 displays powers of mind but little superior to his 

 canine companion. Knowledge then is not indi- 

 genous in his mind : it is an exotic acquired by art, 

 and approaches more or less to perfection, in pro- 

 portion to the care and industry employed in its 

 cultivation. 



But, it may be said, and truly so, that the soil 

 varies in the different races of mankind, and even in 

 different individuals of the same race. Naturally 

 steril in some it will defy or partially frustrate 

 the utmost labour bestowed upon it, while its 



Vol. I. I 



