276 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
directly point that way, through any fear of consequences. 
For my own part, I must incline to the belief that the 
correspondence between the development of the nervous 
system and the degree of intelligence is a correspond¬ 
ence of cause and effect; and, as my friend Fido thinks 
as I do, makes similar calculations, and is inferior in 
mental power only because he has a less perfect organiza¬ 
tion, I must acknowledge that in mental faculties we are 
not distinguished initially, though we may be so rela¬ 
tively. The difference between myself and Fido is in 
degree, not in kind; and if man is immortal because of 
his possession of a mental faculty, then Fido must enjoy 
immortality too, and, as my friend said, I must expect 
to meet him in heaven. 
God has given man a power of thought which sepa¬ 
rates him by a vast distance from the animal; a quick¬ 
ness of perception, and a fertility of invention, that 
entitle him, even as an animal , to the lordship of the 
earth. But we must not mistake this for aught else 
than what the brutes, which own his sway, share in 
common with him. If the creatures that obey him were 
destitute of mind of the same nature as his own, he 
would find little in their history to interest him, and in 
their companionship still less to profit him. What 
would be the value of a charger, if, when his rider fell 
helpless on his neck, he should halt to graze and drink, 
instead of hastening to the camp with his bleeding 
burden ? What the value of a sheep dog, if incapable 
of reasoning upon the facts of locality and property ? 
What the value of a camel that could not count its 
driver's steps, and enjoy the cadence of an Arabian song 
