REVIEWS. 
519 
3rd. From the foregoing general laws, it is obvious that every species of 
organized being is a transmutation of some previously existing 
species ; and there is no absolute structural line of demarcation 
between any group and any other, all being connected together by 
some transitional link.* * * § 
Of Matter and Mind generally .- All forces, vital and physical, of mind 
or matter, are “ co-ordinated terms of nature’s great progression from the 
formless to the formed, from the inorganic to the organic, from blind 
force, to conscious intellect and will.” f 
Of Sensation and Intellect. — What has been stated of the physical 
transmutation of the animal races applies also to their psychical or mental 
qualities ; and “ even the highest faculties of feeling and intellect begin to 
germinate in lower forms of life.” J 
On Man. 
1st. Man is probably an improvement of some simpler and lower animal 
form § — probably of one of the apes. 
2nd. There is a vast gulf between civilized man and the brutes. In the 
present creation there is no link to connect Homo and Troglodytes ; 
and if ever there has been such a link, it remains to be discovered 
by posterity.|| 
3rd. There is no absolute psychical or mental distinction between man and 
the animals immediately below him in the scale. 
4th. Man is “ the only consciously intelligent denizen of this world .” 
5th. It is the faculty of intelligible and rational speech, which he alone 
possesses (and the experience he has thereby accumulated) that 
has placed him in this high position amongst animals.+f 
Gth. The experience which he accumulates during “ the secular period of 
his existence,” through the instrumentality of his speech and 
an occasional ray, which he thereby reflects from “ the infinite 
source of truth,” have transfigured him from his grosser nature and 
placed him in his high position. 
Some of our readers will, no doubt, be very much astonished at 
these doctrines ; and we confess that we are the same ; but it is not our 
* Compare Lectures, p. 143, last par.; p. 153, 2nd par.; and “ Evi- 
dences,” p. 109, last par. 
f “ Evidences,” p. 103. J Ibid, p. 109. 
§ We say “probably,” that we may not be accused of exaggerating the 
author’s views ; but a reference to p. 109, par. 2, will, we think, cause our 
readers to say we might safely have omitted the word. 
|| “ Evidences,” p. 104, par. 1 ; p. 110, par. 1 ; and p. 159. 
Ibid. p. 109, par. 4. Ibid. p. 110, par. 1. 
It “ Evidences,” p. 112 ; and “Lectures to Working Men,” p. 155, par. 3. 
;j;t Ibid. p. 1 12. The text is not very clear, but we have endeavoured to 
extract the author’s meaning. If we have not succeeded, the fault does 
not rest with us. 
