232 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



pressed form, constitutes the subject of these our supple- 

 mentary essays, with which, in relation to the Quadrumana, 

 we shall now proceed. 



There are few departments of human knowledge that have 

 been more disfigured by fable, imposture, misconception, 

 and exaggeration than natural history in general. Few 

 portions of natural history have suffered more from the same 

 causes than that which relates to the quadrumanous species 

 of the animal world ; and the first subdivision of those ani- 

 mals, namely, that of the apes, has proved in a more 

 especial manner a fertile source of falsehood and mis- 

 representation — of impudent or ignorant distortion of facts, 

 and of ridiculous and contemptible absurdity of deduction. 



Man has not merely been placed by his Maker at the head 

 of the countless organized beings which occupy this nether 

 world, but he has also been disjointed, as it were, and 

 severed from them all. His natural superiority is strongly 

 marked, even in the earliest stages of moral advancement, 

 and when his unexcited faculties lie almost dormant within 

 him. Attitude, physiognomy, and language proclaim the 

 rudest savage that traverses the wild, to be lord of the 

 prone and mute creation that surrounds him. But when by 

 the judicious cultivation of his moral and intellectual facul- 

 ties, the diviner part of man's nature becomes fully developed, 

 we then see clearly and palpably that the gulf which sepa- 

 rates him from other creatures is utterly impassable. It 

 matters not how nearly they may approximate to his out- 

 ward form or. his physical peculiarities, his mental powers 

 set him at an immeasurable and inaccessible height above 

 them all. This supremacy is no usurpation of pride ; it is 

 the gift of Heaven, and has been universally recognised in 

 all ages and among all nations. The most untaught have 

 yet learned to know and to respect the dignity of their 



nature, 



" To venerate themselves as men." 



