CHAPTER II. 
REASON. 
“ They also know, 
And reason not contemptibly.” 
Milton. 
We are usually accustomed to attribute every action 
assimilating to reasoning capacity, no matter of wliat 
description, which may present itself to our notice among 
“ irrational beings, 5 ’ as the workings of instinct. Many 
deny the existence of reason altogether; others acknow¬ 
ledge it, but at the same time assign to it limits; all are 
agreed, however, on one point— i. e. that the instinct of 
an animal is quite as remarkable in its way as reason in 
a human being. 
Our pride has raised up so impassable a barrier 
between the “ Lord of the Creation 55 and “ the brute 
beast 55 that all the courage Science can muster is 
requisite for her to attempt to overcome these prejudices. 
He, however, who attempts the feat, and who keenly 
inquires into the subject, will find that the intellectual 
capacities of animals are not so inferior to those of man 
as that individual 5 s vanity would lead him to suppose. 
Unanswerable proofs of a highly developed intelligence, 
and a deep sense of feeling existing among animals 
cannot be denied, however much one may seek to place 
