ON THE REASONING FACULTIES OF ANIMALS. 247 
he must have wandered into the town; had been attracted, in all 
probability, by the sound of the anvil; had probably been relieved 
from lameness before by the application of the shoe; and must 
have perseveringly returned to the forge in the expectation of a 
similar benefit. Here we have a continued process of reasoning : 
no instinct, nor any other faculty, could have prompted such singu¬ 
lar conduct. 
There is no greater source of error in science or philosophy than 
the endeavour so frequently made to make facts bend to theory; 
assuming certain notions as correct, and endeavouring to make 
every thing accord with them, and believing or disbelieving facts 
according as they appear to agree or differ with these favourite 
theories. This it is that has caused such persecution against every 
new doctrine which has been broached in science or in medicine, 
from the time of Galileo to the present day; this it is which has 
caused such opposition to the science of geology when it was first 
promulgated. It was thought to be opposed to the Scriptures, and 
therefore it was considered that it must, or rather ought to be, false, 
and w'as condemned accordingly. In like manner it was assumed 
that reason was the test and prerogative of immortality,—that 
brutes were not immortal; ergo, they cannot have reason. 
Mr. Karkeek, in some late papers in The VETERINARIAN, 
in reference to this matter, takes a very bold position, and one in 
which, although he has handled the subject with much talent, he 
stands, I fancy, almost alone, or, at any rate, with very few sup¬ 
porters. He appears to believe that reason is a token of immorta¬ 
lity, and assumes that brutes are immortal because their actions 
prove that they possess the power of reasoning. I do not mean to 
say that this is his only ground for believing as he does, but it is 
one of his chief positions. He endeavours, also, to shew that the 
mind and the soul are one and the same, and, assuming that the 
immortality of the soul is proved in man, he infers that, as animals 
possess a mind, they must therefore possess an immortal soul. 
In these theories of Mr. Karkeek I cannot join; although I fully 
agree with him that animals possess the reasoning faculty. At 
present I cannot venture to occupy any more of the valuable space 
of The Veterinarian with a subject, however interesting, yet 
not of a practical nature; but, in my next paper I will endeavour 
to shew cause why I cannot concede immortality to animals, and 
why I do not consider the reasoning powers as an attribute of 
immortalitv. 
