The Harmony of Creation. 493 
home and get help. He described the dog as being very 
much excited for a long time, until a beam of intelligence 
appeared to dart from his eyes, and the dog ran home, 
and actually fetched the man’s sister or wife. 
We do not attempt to fully discuss or in any way to ex- 
haust these subjects; a brief sketch only is intended, just 
sufficient to draw distinctions, and point out important 
differences. 
Moral law is applicable to man alone, because man is 
the only being who is a responsible agent, responsible both 
to his fellow-creatures and to his Maker. All the argu- 
ments of those who would attempt to prove mana mere 
physical being cannot show that he is born without a con- 
science, or without a sense of responsibility, even amongst 
the most savage tribes. Locke observes the mind of man 
“turns its view inward upon itself.” That which contem- 
plates itself, that intelligence which sees itself and studies 
itself, that knowledge which knows itself, constitutes a dis- 
tinct order of mental phenomena, to which no inferior 
animal can attain. | 
Animals feel, know, and think, but man alone knows 
that he knows, and thinks that he thinks. As we remarked 
before, man is the only animal who is progressive in his 
knowledge and powers, he alone speaks and writes—which 
are results of progression. He alone can communicate 
to future generations. In these faculties he is perfectly 
distinct from the lower animals, in addition to his moral 
position. General laws, however, do apply to a certain 
extent to the acts of man himself. Careful analysis of the 
acts of men proves that, taken collectively, they recur with 
precision and regularity. M. Quetelet showed that in Bel- 
gium marriages took place during a series of years in an 
exact ratio to the population. The number per annum of 
men not over 30 who married women over 60 was 5 to 7; 
the number over 30 up to 45 married to women of 60 was 
annually 18. The number of letters posted without an ad- 
dress kept always the same ratio. Statistics of crime have 
been shown to follow certain laws. Although the collec- 
tive acts of man, in certain countries and in certain epochs, 
are shown to produce regular results, it must be remem- 
bered that man is individually a free agent. No one would 
pretend to show that the collective acts of a band of 
thieves would present the same result as those of a body 
of gentlemen. And just the same argument will show 
that the collective acts of one nation will be superior to 
