THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 165 



to the intellectual being, and hence is only an 

 accomplishment, obeying no rule of normal 

 growth. 



As the use of the natural sense of taste makes 

 possible the choice of nourishment, and all forms 

 of life are thus sustained, the natural taste be- 

 comes an important factor of their comfort, and 

 upon this physical basis rests, perhaps, the whole 

 superstructure of ethics. The first idea of owner- 

 ship is doubtless found in the possession of food, 

 and this right of property is protected by the 

 unwritten laws of incipient life. The faculty of 

 reason which man has arrogated to himself is 

 only limited by that dim line which bounds the 

 vital sphere and sheds its rays through all the 

 kingdom of life, from that point where the vital 

 spark first lights the monad, through all the laby- 

 rinths of change, to man in the full pride of his 

 divinity, standing upon the threshold of the an- 

 gelic state. It is not by the exercise of reason 

 that water flows down hill or that matter obeys 

 the law of gravity ; but in the exercise of auton- 

 omy, however feeble may be the motive, reason 

 guides the act. The power of this faculty is 

 measured by the development of others, and 

 there is no point between the two extremes at 



