ANIMAL KINGDOM. 339 



espece privilegiee sont phis parfaits, mieux coumis et mieux 

 definis, elk examine en qnoi et com?nent ces orgnnes se diver- 

 sijient, se deforment, et salterent dans tons les autres ani- 

 maux, mes nouvelles vues me portent a ne donner de prt- 

 ftrence a aucune anatomie en particulier, mais a considerer 

 les organes Id d'abord oH Us sont dans le maximum de leur 

 developpement, pour les suivre de degrc en degre jusqiCa 

 zh'o d'existence." An anatomist thus informs us, that his 

 observations have not led him. to adopt the old opinion on 

 the subject"; and we are therefore called upon to prove 

 the truth of the assertion, that the human frame is the 

 most perfect mechanism in the animal kingdom. The pro- 

 cess which Cuvier recommends, of calculating the effect of 

 each combination, would, if it were practicable, be of 

 some use here; but unfortunately it is not practicable, und 

 I query much whether there be any other method of prov- 

 ing the truth of the syllogism. We see however that it 

 may be doubted even by those who have best the means of 

 judging; and indeed as the indubitable superiority of man 

 over other creatures depends on something totally immate^ 

 rial, which throws him out of the group of animals and 

 makes him an insulated being, namely, his mind, I can see 

 no necessity for metaphysicians or naturalists so strongly 

 insisting on what they cannot prove, — the decided supe- 

 riority in detail of the human mechanism over that of all 

 other animals. Taken as a whole, the human frame with- 

 out doubt is a most comphcated machine, yet perhaps it 

 scarcely possesses any one sense or bodily power in which 

 it is not excelled by some irrational being. 



The argument perhaps therefore had better have lain 

 thus : 



1 . Species of animals differ from each other in strijc- 



Z 2 



