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CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 
thing; for where was Nature found so absurd, so self-contradictory, as to expend 
her cunning in constructing that which by some subsequent omission she renders 
useless ? What animal is there whose habits and instincts are not in conformity 
with its structure ? Do we see the Eagle striving to burrow under the earth, or 
the Mole to soar in the air ? Do we find the Tiger living in flocks, and feeding on 
herbs, or the Sheep aspiring to the solitary glories of the chase ? Such things 
are never seen. The Eagle has the spreading pinions, the powerful pectoral 
muscles, and the piercing sight which at once point it out as the inhabitant 
of the firmament; and it has instincts suited to the structure. Jn all animals 
we find the same conformity of structure and instinct; so that, the structure 
being given, the instincts may be pretty nearly predicated, and vice versd. If 
the bird of prey could speak, it might possibly say, “ we possess a principle 
denied to other forms of animated beings, a principle that connects us with all 
that is below us in creation, &e./’ and with as much reason as is evinced by our 
own use of such language; since it is not the amount of difference, but the mere 
fact of difference which, if at all, would justify the assumption of a new 
principle. It is by the same principle that we add together two units and a 
million. So it is in Nature. The beginning of animal life is the simplest 
possible; this is the foundation, and all other forms of animated being are con¬ 
structed by simple addition to this primary foundation. The principle employed 
by the architect is the same when he lays one stone upon another as it is when 
he puts the finishing stroke to the Grecian temple or the Gothic cathedral. So 
Man, the summit of the natural edifice, possesses no principle peculiar to himself 
and denied even to the simplest animalcule. In saying, therefore, that Man 
“ exhibits a structural perfection that would point him out as the master-work of 
the creation,” we shall be grossly inconsistent, shall show a lamentable want of 
confidence in the consistency of Nature, if we do not also expect a corresponding 
perfection in his mental powers. If, in all other animals, structure and mind go 
together in perfect harmony, what do we make of Man but a splendid monster, 
if we expect his structural superiority, which 44 points him out as the master- 
work of creation/' to be unaccompanied (and on the very same principle as in the 
inferior animals, for this is the very point at issue) by a corresponding superiority 
of mind which shall enable him to assert and to maintain his sway ? 
This, then, is the truth : Man possesses faculties superior to those of all other 
animals. We know nothing of the manner in which those powers are com¬ 
municated; and the pretended explanation by an immaterial principle, is no 
explanation at all; for it is just as easy to suppose matter acting in a given 
manner, of its own force, that is, in possession of certain properties, as it is to 
suppose that it is influenced by a spiritual essence. It is precisely as difficiilt, 
nay, as impossible, to account for the growth of a plant, as it is to account for 
