AGE OF MAN. 573 



V. ERA OF MIND.— AGE OF MAN. 



In the preceding chapters the progress of the vegetable and ani- 

 mal tribes has been followed through the three grand divisions of 

 geological time," — the Palseozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. In the 

 latter part of the last era the animal kingdom, apart from Man, cul- 

 minated; for the system then reached the highest grade of develop- 

 ment presented by the merely animal type, and brute passion 

 had its fullest display. In the era now opening, the animal ele- 

 ment is no longer dominant, but Mind in the possession of a being 

 at the head of the kingdoms of life ; and the era bears the impress 

 of its exalted characteristic even in the smaller size of its beasts of 

 prey. At the same time, the ennoblea animal structure rises to its 

 highest perfection ; for the Vertebrate type, which began during 

 the Palseozoic in the prone or horizontal fish, finally becomes erect 

 in Man, completing, as Agassiz has observed, the possible changes 

 in the series to its last term. 



But, beyond this, in Man the fore-limbs are not organs of loco- 

 motion, as they are in all other Mammals : they have passed from 

 the locomotive to the cephalic series, being made to subserve the pur- 

 poses of the head. This transfer is in accordance with a grand law 

 in nature (explained in the note, \ 5, p. 593) which is at the basis of 

 grade and development. The intellectual character of Man, some- 

 times thought too intangible to be regarded by the zoological 

 systematist, is thus expressed in his material structure. Man is 

 therefore not one of the Primates alongside of the Monkeys: he 

 stands alone, — the Archon of Mammals (p. 422). 



In order to a correct apprehension of the distinctions and emi- 

 nence of the era of Mind, a few of the attributes of Man are here 

 enumerated. 



Man was the first being that was not finished on reaching adult 

 growth, but was provided with powers for indefinite expansion, a 

 will for a life of work, and boundless aspirations to lead to endless 

 improvement. He was the first being capable of an intelligent sur- 

 vey of nature and comprehension of her laws ; the first capable of 

 augmenting his strength by bending nature to his service, rendering 

 thereby a weak body stronger than all possible animal force ; the 

 first capable of deriving happiness from beauty, truth, and good- 

 ness ; of apprehending eternal right ; of looking from the finite 



