Quadrupeds. 905 



cock, which may, as I have said, eventually prove specifically distinct, 

 I expect to hear more on the subject in the pages of € The Zoologist. 1 



G. F. Dawson. 

 March, 1845. 



A few words on the question, Do the inferior Animals possess Intel- 

 lectual Powers or not ? By T. W. Barlow, C.M.B.S., &c. 



" Est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia." 



That the vital principle, inherent in the inferior animals, is extin- 

 guished with their present life, no true believer in the Bible, the great 

 foundation stone of Christianity, can for an instant doubt. There 

 we find at once a decided answer to the vague speculations of modern 

 philosophers on this point, in the distinct declaration by Him who 

 cannot lie, that they " perish. " 



Many, however, have even gone further than this, and in addition 

 to negativing their claims to & future existence, have also denied that 

 they possess any reasoning or intellectual powers for the government of 

 their actions in this, and attribute these actions to a certain innate 

 prompting which they call instinct. The consideration of this matter 

 must be alike interesting to the naturalist and the philosopher. 



In what then do instinct and reason respectively consist ? 



Reason is, I conceive, that internal faculty,, which enables us to 

 digest and turn to a useful purpose those ideas which the mind en- 

 genders from external circumstances ; and although mind may exist 

 without reason (though rendered useless by the separation), it is im- 

 possible for reason to exist without mind. It follows, therefore, as a 

 matter of course, if it be proved satisfactorily that animals possess 

 reasoning powers, that we allow them also to possess mind, or a certain 

 power which exists within, whereby to think, and will, and reason, 

 reason being the indubitable proof of the existence of mind. To 

 make use of a familiar simile, as the pendulum of the clock regulates 

 its motions, thereby rendering it useful, so reason or judgment is a 

 regulator to the mind, by which alone its functions can become ad- 

 vantageous to us. By its power we are led to analyze the ideas the 

 mind embraces, to compare facts together, and by tracing them in 

 their different relations, to discern and pursue what is conducive, and 

 avoid what is pernicious to our worldly prosperity. As it has been 

 said before, if the light of reason be withdrawn, the functions of the 

 iii 3 C 



