534 
ON THE INTELLECTUAL AND 
a small portion of wool. For the first fortnight she never quitted 
the spot, and for another week she visited it every morning 
and evening, uttering a few kindly and heart-piercing bleats each 
time, till, at length, every remnant of her offspring vanished, 
mixing with the soil. 1 ’ We should call this virtue in the human 
being: it would excite our mingled love and admiration. What 
shall we say about it m the sheep ?—why, that we do not know 
half of the good qualities of our patients ; and the more we know 
of them, we shall love our profession, and be reconciled to some 
of the rubs we meet with in the world, on account of the sup¬ 
posed inferiority of our patients, and I am afraid, hitherto, but 
not to last for ever, our actual inferiority. 
Of the proofs of filial affection we have not so much to say. 
The period of infancy rapidly passes, and there is but little time 
for the young one, with few of his faculties developed, to acquire 
or to display any intense affection; but for obedience, passive 
obedience, except where instinct comes in the way (as when a 
poor hen is cruelly charged with the care of a brood of ducks), 
the quadruped or feathered biped is a pattern to the child. 
It is wonderful how quickly they obey the slightest signal from 
the parent. One cluck of the hen will summon all her chickens 
about her; one bleat of the ewe brings the lamb to her side. 
Among wild beasts, natural history contains many instances of 
the young fighting with desperation in defence of their parents. 
But these instincts, parental and filial, it is said, cease when the 
immediate objects for which they were given cease. The parent 
drives the young one from the nest, and the young one abandons 
the society of the parent. But does this take place to a much 
greater degree than among us ? It is only where the young ones 
are fed by the care and diligence of the parent, that they are 
driven from the nest or from the lair; and what parent, who is 
compelled to maintain his child by manual labour, would suffer 
a full grown healthy son to prey upon him and impoverish him? 
It is a part of the system of nature that the parent should pro¬ 
vide and love his offspring during infancy and youth; but the 
duty of the parent ceases when the young man can shift for 
himself—not, indeed, the regard and affection—nor is that certain 
with respect to gregarious animals. They continue to be members 
of the same colony, and for aught we know (and with some of 
