Reason and Instinct. 5587 



under similar circumstances in the human subject. While, on the 

 other hand, if it be attempted to raise an objection against our con- 

 clusion on the ground, that if the brute family were really endowed 

 with reason, they could uot continue in a condition so low as theirs is 

 by contrast with the human family, — we reply that the degree of 

 intellectual hebetude which is induced in man, even among civilized 

 nations, by a low physical condition and the continued want of mental 

 culture and moral training ; of utter demoralization, both mental and 

 physical, when that want is assisted in its operation by practical 

 teaching in wickedness, and training of the faculties in a downward 

 direction ; or still more of complete degradation, even to the level of 

 the brute, which is the result of utter deprivation of all kind of human 

 care and human intercourse, with its necessary though tacit educa- 

 tional power; at once proves that there is nothing abnormal or even 

 remarkable in the condition of the lower orders of animal creation, as 

 contrasted with their presumed possession of the attributes of reason. 



While engaged upon the arguments and considerations, now brought 

 to a close, other questions, at least collateral to that we have dis- 

 cussed, have suggested themselves ; such as how far the reason of 

 brutes is to be regarded from Mr. Couch's point of view, namely, that 

 it is simply "the servant of instinct;" in what sense or degree the 

 brain may be considered as the organ by which instinct works; the 

 extent to which instinct works in the human races, civilized and un- 

 civilized, and is susceptible of changes similar to those implied in the 

 words " hereditary instinct/' and the like : to which, or to some of 

 which, we may possibly revert in some future paper. 



There is another topic on which it may be thought necessary — 

 though, I own, it does not appear so to me — to add a few passing ob- 

 servations; I mean the distinctive difference between man and the 

 brute. Admitting all that we have contended for relative to the 

 intellectual endowments of the lower animals and the corollaries 

 deducible from it, to the very fullest extent, the relative position of 

 mankind and all other animals remains, of necessity, quite untouched. 

 The superiority of man over the mere animal is a fact; and no fact 

 can be touched by any mere process of reasoning. The distinction 

 between the human and the brute families is as broad and as strongly 

 marked as though the object of the Creator had been simply to dis- 

 play that distinction in the most striking manner. By the unalterable 

 fiat of the Great Author of all the one was constituted the sovereign 

 of the other; and the sovereignty so established must abide unassail- 

 able so long as the fiat is unrevoked. And, like all other decrees 



