ON 



THE MENTAL QUALITIES OF BIRDS, 



&C. 



All animals, with the exception of man, were formerly 

 supposed to act from a natural blind impulse, to which was 

 given the name of instinct, although many admitted the 

 operation of both instinct and reason in the lower animals. 

 The term instinct, however, was used in a very vague man- 

 ner ; for under this head were included not only all their 

 feelings and propensities, but even their various perceptive 

 powers. In this manner attempts have been made to ex- 

 plain the habits and mental attributes of the lower animals, 

 but without success, from the want of sound data. From 

 this state of confusion, during which no two writers agreed 

 in assigning even the proximate cause to any mental act, 

 Phrenology proposed to deliver us, and by pointing out 

 e< the constancy of particular forms of the brain with cer- 

 tain affective and intellectual faculties," to afford a satisfac- 

 tory clue to the explanation of the whole mystery. 



