SECT. I.] PERFECTIBILITY. 269 



SECTION I. 



THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS OF MAN. 



We deemed it superfluous, in treating of the physical cha- 

 racters of man, to enter into any details as regards the differ- 

 ences which distinguish man from the brute, as they are too 

 well known. With regard, however, to his psychical life, 

 the differences are not so patent ; for even now we meet with 

 authors who, perhaps judging from their own experience, 

 consider that the mental life of the lower races is not superior 

 to that of the ape. The witty saying of Beaumarchais, " Boire 

 sans soif et faire V amour en tout temps, c'est ce qui distingue 

 Vhomme de la bte," has been defended in all seriousness, even 

 by those who, unprejudiced, have merely judged from the im- 

 pressions produced upon the European by a perfectly unculti- 

 vated people. From the various judgments passed on so- 

 called savages, it is no idle question to inquire into the essential 

 differences which separate man from the brute, as these marks 

 of distinction form the common basis for the mental life both 

 of the savage and the civilized man. 



It is not sufficient for this object to find a term by which 

 this specific difference can be designated so as to be generally 

 acceptable. Various formulae of the kind have been given, and 

 we may assent to some without preferring any in particular. 

 When we attribute to man, exclusively, reason or perfectibility, 

 and deny them to animals, the question must be, in what sense 

 we take these significant terms. Moreover, this perfectibility, 

 which is so often described as a general criterion of humanity, 

 is, by some authors, denied to the inferior races; whether 

 rightly or wrongly will be shown by the historical consideration 

 of individual tribes and their mental characteristics. We are 

 thus induced to lay aside general notions, and to keep to par- 

 ticulars. Moreover, it is difficult to doubt that some animals, 

 though they have no history in our sense, possess a certain 

 perfectibility, such as the dog and the horse. There is no 

 doubt that it is not by the spontaneous impulse of these animals, 



