439 
ORDINARY MEETING, February 19th. 1877. 
The Rev. R. Thornton, D.D., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the follow- 
ing elections were announced : — 
Associates Rev. E. Male, M.A., Oxford ; G. P. Yeats, Esq., Malvern. 
Also the presentation of the following Works for the Library : 
“ The Boyle Lectures.” By Professor H. Wace, M.A. From the Author. 
Science the Handmaid of Religion.” By Rev. J. Coxhead, M.A. Ditto. 
The following Paper was then read by Mr. Hathaway, the Author being 
unavoidably absent : — 
ON COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY. By E. J. 
Morshead, Esq. 
riMIE objections to the theory of a distinction in kind 
-*r betwe en the human psychology and that of the lower 
animals may be divided into two classes ; firstly, those which 
are founded on the observation in the actions of the brute of 
apparent indications of intellectual processes; and secondly 
those resulting inferentially from the fatalistic view which 
invests even the most rational actions of man with the auto- 
matic * characteristics of instinct. The first class of objections 
allows a certain amount of reason to the brute, while the second 
class allows man himself nothing more than instinct, that is 
instinct according to the broader definition laid down in a 
oimer paper on this subject. f Before considering the second 
class of objections, or rather the principles on which these 
* A difficulty having been raised on a former occasion as to the meanino- 
of the term automatic,” I give a definition of Dr. Carpenter’s, which 
expresses the meaning in which I have employed it. He defines an auto- 
maton as a machine which has within itself the power of motion, under 
conditions fixed for it, but not by it.” 
I have used the word ‘ desire ” in a broader sense than is strictly admis- 
sible, as including fear, &c., it being necessary to employ one term to 
express all the emotions which tend to produce action. 
i . The WOr ^ hnage has been frequently used instead of “ idea,” as the 
latter term conveys to many minds a notion of complexity 
t 2nd May, 1870. * 1 
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