56 



biologists, and some of them of the highest reputation, 

 believe in a much closer, and to some minds a more 

 startling relationship — namely, that of an immaterial 

 and spiritual community between man and the lower 

 animals. 



" For the most part," says Professor Agassiz,* 

 " the relations of individuals to individuals are un- 

 questionably of an organic nature, and as such, have 

 to be viewed in the same light as any other structural 

 feature ; but there is much also in these connections 

 that partakes of a psychological character, taking this 

 expression in the widest sense of the word. When 

 animals fight with one another — when they associate 

 for a common purpose — ^when they warn one another 

 in danger — when they come to the rescue of one an- 

 other — when they display pain and joy — they mani- 

 fest impulses of the same kind as are considered 

 among the moral attributes of man. The range of 

 their passions is even as extensive as that of the 

 I human mind, and I am at a loss to perceive a differ- 

 ence of kind between them, however much they may 

 differ in degree and iu the manner in which they are 

 expressed. The gradations of the moral faculties 

 among the higher animals and man are moreover so 

 imperceptible, that to deny to the first a certain sense 

 of responsibility and consciousness, would certainly 



* Essay on Classifimtion, pp. 96-99 : London, 1859. 



