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Mr. Locke (EfTay, vol. i. p. 120, 14".) mainfafin, that 

 tlic fouls of bnius ".re wholly mateiial ; that thty do not 

 pi'flTcfs tlic power of ahllr.i(;lioii ; anij that the having of 

 gemral LL-Jt '\i that which puts .t perfect diftinftion between 

 incii and bnites. Accordiii;^ly, he fiippotes, that they have 

 no life of wordS( or any general Ifgns by which to exprels 

 tlicir ideas. It has, however, been a fubjed of difpute, 

 whether brute animals have any larj^uago intelligible to one 

 another. S;>.mc have pr.-tend 'd, that they have a kind of 

 jargo:', bv which they can make a mntnal co;niniuiieation of 

 their fenlinientu; and Porphyry relates, that Tirclias and 

 Apolloniui Tyanrcua underllood this langnajje. There is at 

 leall a luiiilitudc of fpeech in brutes ; for they know each 

 other by their voices, and have their ligns whireby they cx- 

 prefs anger, joy, and other pafTior.s. Tims, a dog afraiiks 

 in one llrain, fawns in another, howls in another, and cries 

 when beaten in another. To ii';, indeed, their fp«cch, if it 

 r.iay be fo called, appears rude and inarticulate ; but perhaps 

 ours, though underllood by them, is the fame in their ears. 

 Dut if the voice of brutes be unintelligible to us, does not 

 the fame hold of the language of our own hind, till we have 

 b;eti inllructtd in it ? And the language of foreigners, what 

 is it but a confijfed unmeaning heap of founds ? Laughter, 

 as the fign of mirth and joy, has been thought peculiar to 

 men ; and yet we fee fomewhat refenibling it in brutes, fig- 

 nified by the motion of their ears, eyes, mouth, and tongues. 

 Dr. Hartley (fee his Obfervatiins on Man, p. 2?9-) has 

 inveftigated the intelleftual faculties of brutes, and applied 

 his theory of vibrations and afTociation in accounting for the 

 inferiority of brutes to mankind, with regard to intelleftual 

 capacities. He afcribcs the difference fubfiiling between 

 them to the following circnmllances, which he has taken 

 occafvon to illuftratc on the principles of his theory. The 

 firll of thefe is the fmall proportionate fize of their brains, 

 whence brutes have a fr.r lefs variety of ideas and intelleftual 

 affections than men. The tecond caufc of this c-iffcrence is 

 the imperfedion of the matter of their brains, whereby it is 

 lefs fitted for retaining a large number of miniatures, and 

 combining tjiem by afTociation, than man's. The third 

 caufe istlieir want of words, and fuch like fymbols ; fourthly, 

 the inftindfivc powers which they bring into the world with 

 them, or which rife up from internal caufes, a* they advance 

 towards adult age, is anotli-er caufe of this difference ; and, 

 fifthly, it is partly outing to the difference l>etween the ex- 

 tenial imprefiions made on the brute creation, and on man- 

 kind. This ingenious writer fuppofes, with Des Cartes, that 

 all the motions of brutes arc condufted by mere mechanifm ; 

 yet he does not fuppofe them to be deftitute of perception ; 

 but that they have this in a manner analogous to that which 

 takes place in us ; and that it is fubjedfed to the fame me- 

 chanical laws as the motions. He adds, that it ought always 

 to be remembered, in fpeaking on this lubjeft, that brutes 

 have more reafon than they can Ihow, from their want of 

 words, from our inattention, and from our ignorance of the 

 import of thofe fymbols, which they do ule in giving inti- 

 mations to one another, and to us. 



" As brutes," fays Dr. Prieftley (Difquifitions on Matter 

 and Spirit, p. 238, &c.) " have the fame external fcnfes that 

 wc have, th.ey have, of courfe, all the fame inlets to ideas 

 that we have ; and though, on account of their wanting a 

 fuificient quantity of brain, perhaps chiefly, the combination 

 and afTociation of their ideas cannot be fo complex as ours, 

 and therefore they cannot make fo great a progrefs in iutel- 

 ledual improvements, they mutt neceffarily have, m kind, 

 cicK-y faculty that we are pofTefTed of. Alfo, fince they evi- 

 dently have memory, pafEons, will, and judgment too, as 

 their aftions demonflrate, they mull, of courfe, have the 



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faculty that wc call ahjlradkn, as well as the reft ; though, 

 not having the ufe of words, they c;!:mi(« communicate thtir 

 ideas to us. 'I'hey mull, at leall, have a natural capacity for 

 what is called iihjiradion ; it being nothing more than a par^ 

 ticular cafe of the nl}''K'uilion of uieits, of which, in general, 

 they are certainly pnlhfTed as ucU as ourfelves. Eefides, if 

 dogs had no general or ablfraft ideas, but only fuch as were 

 appropriated to particular iniUvidmil ohjrcls, they could neve? 

 be taught to diltingnilh a man as fuch, a /j/j/v as fuch, or 

 a/rtr/r/V/ff as fiich, (Xc. But their a<a;ions fhew, that they 

 may be tr.-ined to catch hares, fet paitridges, or hirih iu 

 general, and even attack men, as well as to diftinguifh their 

 own mailer, and the fervants of the family in which they 

 live. Whether brutes will furvive the giave we cannot tell. 

 This depends ii|xiii other confiderations than their being 

 capable of reafon and retleftion. If the refurreftion be pro- 

 perly miraculous, and entirely out of all the eftabhfhed laws of 

 nature, it will appear probable that brutes have no iliare iu 

 it ; fince we know of no declaration that God has made to 

 that purpofe, and they can have no expeftation of any fuch 

 thing. But if the refurreftion be, in faft, ivithin the proper 

 courfe of nature, cxtenfively conlidered, and confequently 

 there be fomething remaining of every organifed body that 

 death does not dellrov, there will be reafon to conclude that; 

 they will be benefited by it as well as ourfelves. And the 

 great mifery to which fome of them are expofed in this life 

 may incline us to think, that a merciful and jufl God will 

 make them fome recompence for it hereafter. He is their 

 maker and father as well as ouri. But with refpecl to thi? 

 quellion, we have no fufficient data fn)m which to argue, and 

 therefore niufl acquiefce in our utter ignorance, fatisfied 

 that the maker and judge of all will do what is right." 



It has been, till very lately, a general opinion in the Chrif- 

 tian world, that the fouls of brutes were wholly material, and 

 therefore mortal. The great lord Bacon entertained this 

 opinion. " Anima fenfibilis," fays he, " five brutorum', 

 plane fubftantia corporea cenfenda efl." The celebrated 

 anatomift Willis alfo profeffed the fame. The fentiments 

 of Malebranche fecm to have coincided with thofe of Des 

 Cartes; for he fays, that they eat without pleafnre, and cry- 

 without pain, that they fear nothing, knovs' nothing ; and if 

 they act in fuch a manner as to indicate underllanding, it is 

 becaufc God, having made them to prcferve them, has formed 

 their bodies fo as mechanically to avoid whatever might hurt 

 them. The learned Gale maintains at large (Philofophia 

 Generalis, p..;23.) that the fenfitive foul is corporeal; and 

 the celebrated Dr. Cudworth has revived the long-exploded 

 notion of xhe foul of the ivorhl, from which the fouls of brutes 

 iffue, and to which he fuppofes they return, without retaining 

 their fcparate confcioufnefs after death. However, in order t» 

 folve the difficulty rcfpefling their flate and that of mankind, 

 he fuppofes the immortality of the foul not to follow necefTarily 

 from its immateriality, but from the appointment of God. 

 But in accounting for the difTerence in the divine difptnfations 

 to them and us, he conceives them to bedeilitute of morality 

 and liberty. Some fpeak, however, as if they held brutes 

 to he moral beings, and under the obligation of the law of 

 nature. Ulpian, and other civil lawyers, are fuppofed to be 

 of this opinion ; as alfo the Stoics, from whofe fchool this 

 tenet is faid to have been Crlt borrowed. It is alleged, on 

 the other hand, that brutes cannot be fubjeA to a law, unlefs 

 they have a power of knowing him that made the law, 

 judging whether we have a right to command them, and 

 what is contarined in the law, that they may direft themfelves 

 accordingly ; which feem all to be things out of the reach 

 of brutes. But Ulpian's definition of the law of nature, 

 "jus naturale efl t^uod natura omnia animalia docuit," when 



fairly 



