KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



87 



to friendship; their sensibility to caresses, into 

 ambition and a sentiment of honor ; that, from 

 the song of the nightingale, there results in man 

 the art of music ; from the nest of the bird and 

 hut of the beaver, man's temples and palaces; we 

 shall still see, that the gradual improvement of 

 the organisation affords a measure to the eleva- 

 tion of these faculties, and that the employment 

 and direction of these acquire more dignity in 

 proportion as more elevated faculties join them- 

 selves to the first. Man consequently presents 

 in all this only modified phenomena; and it is 

 doing violence to reason, to place him out of the 

 domain of nature, and to subject him to laws 

 essentially different from those, to which the pri- 

 mitive faculties, common to man and animals, 

 are subjected. 



If, in fine, man has faculties which essentially 

 distinguish him from the animal, and which 

 give to him the peculiar character of humanity, 

 he also offers in his brain, especially the superior 

 and anterior portions, parts which animals have 

 not; and the difference of effects is thus found 

 to be explained by the difference of causes. 

 All anatomists and physiologists agree, that the 

 faculties augment in animals, in proportion as 

 their brain becomes more compounded and more 

 perfect. Why should man alone form an ex- 

 ception to this general rule? If we see in man 

 a being who compares different ideas and notions, 

 who searches into the causes of phenomena, who 

 deduces consequences; who establishes general 

 laws and rules ; if we see him measure the revo- 

 lutions of worlds, their duration and their 

 intervals, traverse the whole surface of the ocean, 

 estimate the merit and the demerit of actions, 

 bear within him a judge to which he is subjected, 

 dictate laws for himself and for his fellow men, 

 in fine, exalt himself to the knowledge and 

 adoration of a God, let us beware of thinking 

 that these faculties are the work of his invention, 

 or that of the accidental action of the external 

 world. This would be to suppose that the Creator 

 has abandoned man to himself, in matters the most 

 important, or, that he has made his perfectibility 

 depend on simple accident. No; in this as in 

 other respects, God has traced for him the 

 circle in which he must act, and has directed 

 his steps. It is for this reason that at all times, 

 and among all nations, man presents the same 

 essential qualities of which he could not have 

 conceived the idea, without the predetermination 

 of the Creator. 



Everywhere this plan of nature makes itself 

 known by signs so evident, that it is impossible 

 to call it in question. " We see, " says Herder, 

 " that from the stone to the crystal, from the 

 crystal to the metal, from this to the plant, from 

 the plant to the animals, and from them to man, 

 the forms of the organisation still go on im- 

 proving; that the faculties and inclinations of 

 beings augment in number in the same propor- 

 portion, and end by finding themselves united in 

 the organisation of man so far as this can in. 

 elude them. This analogy, however, is not 

 sufficient ; it is easy to recognise in man organs 

 of more elevated faculties ; we may indeed de- 

 monstrate their existence. Thus it is impos- 

 sible not to admit, that the fundamental dispo- 

 sitions of the properties of animals and of man, 



are innate, and that the activity and the mani- 

 festation of these faculties are predetermined by 

 the organisation. 



EVERY-DAY-LI^E IN INDIA. 



One evening, my lady and I were sitting after 

 tea, playing at back-gammon, and enjoying the 

 cool breeze that came through the open Venetians, 

 when suddenly it began to rain. In an instant 

 the room swarmed with insects of all sorts. 

 There was a beautiful large green mantis, and as 

 we were watching his almost human motion, a 

 grasshopper and a large brown cricket flew 

 against my face; while a great cockroach, full 

 three inches long, came on my wife's neck, and 

 began humming about her head and face, and 

 dress. The flying ant, which emits a most nauseous 

 effluvium, and the flying bug, next followed. The 

 latter is black, and about the size of an English 

 one, and, if you crush him, will make your 

 fingers smell most dreadfully for many hours. 

 With all these our clothes were covered, and we 

 were obliged to keep brushing them away from 

 our faces, but with very gentle handling. Then 

 came two or three hornets, which sent Mrs. 

 Acland to bed, to nestle under the mosquito 

 curtains, where none of these horrid creatures can 

 get at her. I sat up trying to read, but buzz 

 came a mosquito on the side of my face. Up 

 went my hand with a tremendous slap on the 

 cheek, to kill the tormentor, and buzz he went on 

 again. Then I felt something big, burying itself 

 in my hair, and then came buzz on the other side, 

 and then all round. Presently, with a loud hum, 

 a great rhinoceros beetle clashed into my face. I 

 now began to take some of the animals out of my 

 hair ; and the first that I touched was a flying 

 bug, the stench from this was dreadful. I rushed 

 out of the room, brushing the horrible creatures 

 from my hair with both hands. I nearly fell over 

 a tpad, on which I trod; and reached my bed- 

 room, to find at least twenty great toads crouch- 

 ing in different parts of the room, and five large 

 bats whirling round and round the bed. Having 

 washed my hands in Eau de Cologne, I quietly 

 undressed and fell asleep; but in the course of 

 the night a troop of jackalls surrounded the 

 house, and effectually drove away all thoughts of 

 sleep. And then, about four o'clock, as we were 

 just dozing, came the roll of the drum, and the 

 loud clang of the trumpet ; the tramp of soldiers, 

 and the firing and bustle of the parade. When 

 this was over came the changing guard, and the 

 quiet march, near the house; and so we got up. 



[The above is an extract from a letter to a 

 friend, by the Rev. W. Wilson. It has been sent 

 us by one of our subscribers for insertion. A 

 nice inducement truly, is therein held out to us 

 grumblers in this land of comfort, to seek our 

 fortune in India. We prefer staying where we 

 are. If our troubles be great by day, we can at 

 least enjoy sweet rest by night ; and this alone is 

 worth a Kingdom]. 



Modesty. — The instinct of a virginal heart. 

 Wherever we see it, we fall down at once and 

 worship its possessor. Yet is our time not much 

 encroached upon ; nor are our duties heavy. 



