242 Correspondence . [April, 
with man. The mind of man is the aggregate of all that has 
gone before, to which is superadded the abstract powers of rea- 
soning on things other than those of the senses. What animal, 
other than man, concentrates its intelligence in the contemplation 
of ultimate causes ? — in the contemplation of the purposes of 
Creation (so to speak) and of a God ? 
On this question (animal intelligence) the most absolute ab- 
surdities are indulged in ; vide “ Nature,” “ Science Gossip,” 
the ponderous volumes of Dr. Lauder Lindsay (“ Mind in the 
Lower Animals ”), and the latest production in this class of lite- 
rature by the learned zoological secretary of the Linnean Society 
(“ Animal Intelligence ”). Mr. Romanes in this work (page 29) 
says, of limpets, “ that after every browsing excursion they return 
to one particular spot or home, and the precise memory of direc- 
tion and locality supplied by this facft seems to justify us in 
regarding these actions of the animal as of a nature unquestion- 
ably intelligent.” ! ! It might just as well have been said that 
the creature eats to satisfy its hunger ; intelligent ' because by 
eating it preserves its powers. At page 25, in the same work, 
he remarks on the educated oyster closing its shell to preserve it 
intacft on reaching Paris. In another part of the same work 
(page I forget) this facft is claimed and commented on as a proof 
of intelligence ! ! ! There are many other passages of a like 
character, and so strained is the reasoning that it suggests to the 
mind of the reader the dilemmas of a pressed advocate, and 
almost leads one to think that the author (with all his reputation) 
is- unable to distinguish between a purely sense aCtion and a 
mind aCtion ; but if, on the other hand, we are to conclude that 
Sensation, Mental Power, and Vitality are merely Sun results, 
then we may suppose that the mistiness which is so apparent is 
merely the effects of Sun vibrations. Lord Mahon seems to have 
anticipated our scientific theorisers. 
In conclusion I would say that most of the scientific theorisa- 
tions are strained and bizarre, and that their objeCt appears to be 
that man and his intelligence should find class in the chapter of 
animal degradation (Lord Brougham, “ Dialogues on InstinCI,” 
says something like this) ; and that man, in his most intellectual 
attribute, is merely a trained, ape ; and that there should be ex- 
cised from the mind of man all idea of other potencies than 
Matter and Force ; and that the conception of God should be 
banished from his intelligent and wonderfully designed Universe. 
— I am, &c., 
S. Billing. 
