SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 149 



this description over the weakest and most unin 

 telligent. There is no principle of subordination 

 among animals : the most powerful possess no com- 

 mand, the feeblest own no subserviency ; the strong, 

 doubtless, devour the weak, but this is the result of 

 urgent necessity and carnivorous instinct. There 

 is no resemblance in this to a regular and systematic 

 series of actions all conducing to one common pre- 

 meditated end. We discover no traces of such a 

 mode of action in animals, we discover no con- 

 sciousness of superiority in one species over another. 

 We are justified in believing, that in this respect, 

 all animals are alike, and that, probably, they are 

 not only far inferior in mental character to man, but 

 utterly dissimilar. 



Animals never act in concert or co-operation for 

 common purposes in a similar manner, or on similar 

 principles, with man. The associated labour of 

 certain insect tribes, and the joint operations of the 

 male and female in some of the higher orders, which 

 have reference to the supply of food or continuance 

 of the species, do not in strict propriety form any 

 exception to this position. Such operations are the 

 result of a blind instinct, not of any thing similar to 

 human reason; they are never varied in the mode 

 of performance, nor do the animals which conduct 

 them ever enter upon others of a different kind, and 

 for a different purpose. This arises undoubtedly 

 from the limited extent of their powers of observa- 

 tion and reflection, and forms another characteristic 

 distinction between them and man. Another grand 



