Chap. HI. Mental Powers. 79 



It has, I think, uow been shewn that man and the liigher 1 

 animals, especially the Primates, have some few instincts in i 

 common. All have the same senses, intuitions, and sensations, — ' 

 similar passions, affections, and emotions, even the more complex 

 ones, such as jealousy, suspicion, emulation, gratitude, and 

 raHgnanimity ; they practise deceit and are revengefnl ; they are 

 somt-times susceptible to ridicule, and even have a sense of | 

 humour ; they feel wonder and curiosity ; they possess the same / 

 faculties of imitation, attention, dehberation, choice, memory, 

 imagination, the association of ideas, and reason, though in very 

 different degrees. The individuals of the same species graduate; 

 in intellect from absolute imbecility to high excellence. They^ 

 are also liable to insanity, though far less often than in the case 

 of man.*" Nevertheless, many authors have insisted that man is 

 divided by an insuperable barrier from all the lower animals in 

 his mental faculties. I formerly made a collection of above a 

 score of such aphorisms, but they are almost worthless, as their 

 wide difference and number prove the difiBculty, if not the im- 

 possibility, of the attempt. It has been asserted that man alone 

 is capable of progressive improvement ; that he alone makes use 

 of tools or fire, domesticates other animals, or possesses property; 

 that no animal has the power of abstraction, or of forming 

 general concepts, is self-conscious and comprehends itself; that 

 no animal employs language; that man alone has a sense of 

 beauty, is liable to caprice, has the feeling of gratitude, mystery, 

 &c.; believes in God, or is endowed with a conscience. I will 

 hazard a few remarks on the more important and interesting of 

 these points. 



Archbishop Sumner formerly maintained'' that man alone is 

 capable of progressive improvement. That he is capable of 

 incomparably greater and more rapid improvement than is any 

 other animal, admits of no dispute; and this is mainly 

 due to his power of speaking and handing down his acquired 

 knowledge. With animals, looking first to the individual, every 

 one who has had any experience in setting traps, knows that 



speaking of the supposed irap.i5sable " tares. It is difficult to under- 



barrier between the minds of man " stand how anybody who has eve 



and the lower animals, says, "The " kept a dog, or seen an elephant. 



" distinctions, indeed, which have " can have any doubts as to a>i 



" bien drawn, seem to us to rest " animal's power of performing th« 



" upon no better foundation than a " essential processes of reasoning." 



" great many other metaphysical "> See ' Madness in Animals,' by 



" distinctions ; that is, the assump- Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay, in ' Journal 



" tion that because you can give of Mental Science,' July 1871. 



" two things different names, they " Quoted by Sir C. Lyell, 'Anti- 



" must therefore have ditterent na- quity of ILin,' D. +*>'' 



