OCR Text |
Show 178 .MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS. I Genei:ally speaking, as we as~end. in the .scale, WE., see more anC. more of the faculties In exercise, ~nd t:eso; tendinO' more to the indefinite mode of manlfestattory And r.;'r this there is the obvious reason in ProvideJ?fe':• that the lowest animals have all of them a very lul_l ed sphere of existence, born only .to perform a fe~ funct ns, and enjoy a brief term of hfe, and then give w; Y to another generati?n, so th~t th~y do not need much ental guidance. At higher pmnts In the scale, the sp re of existence is consiilel'ably extended, and the menta operations are less definite accordingly. T~e hors~, og, and a few other rasorial types, noted for their ~erv1c bleness to our race, have the indefinite powers In no mall e.ndowment. Man, again, sho~s very _little. of t~ definite mode of operati.o~, and that fittle chiefl:r In _childhood,, 01 in barbarism or 1d10cy. Destmed for a Wide 1I~ld of ~chon, and to be applicable to infinitely vari~d co~hngenc~es, he has all the faculties developed to a high P.Itc}l ~f In~efiw niteness, that he may be rearly to act well I_ll all. Imagina-ble cases. His commission, it may be sat~, g1v~s lar~e discretionary powers, while that of the infevor animals s limited to a fe-w precise directions .. But when the hu~a.n brain is conO'enitally imperfect or diseased, or when It Ii in the state ~f infancy, we see in it an ap.rroa?h to~ardR the character of the brains of some of the mfenor .animals. Dr. G. J. Davey states that he has frequ~ntly w1tne~se~, among his patients at the Han well Lunat~c Asyl~m, Ind~cations of a particular abnormal cerehratwn whtch ~or?I-bly reminded him of the specific hea.lth~ charactenshcs of animals lower· in the scale of organization ;* and every one must have observed how often the actions of childref!, especially in their moments of play, and where their selfish feelings are concerned, bear a resemblance to those of certain fami!iar animals. t Behold, then, the :wond.er-ful unity of the whole system. The grades of mtnd, ld{e the forms of being, are mere stages of developmen.t. In the humbler forms, but a few of the mental faculhe.s are traceable, just as we see in them but a few of the hneaments of universal structure. In man, the system has ,. Phrenological Journal, xv., 338. . . t A pampered lap·dog, living wher~ th~re IS another of Its o'vn species, will hide any nice mo~se~ wlucl~ 1~ ca~not eat! under a rug or in some other by-place, des1gmng lo enJOY 1t afttr\l e.rds. I havo seen children do the same thing. / ( MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANI.MA~S. l7tl arrived at its h~ghest con~ition. The few gleams of r~ason, then, which we see In the lower animals are preCisely a~alogous to such a development of the fore-arm as we find In the paddle of the whale. Causality comparison anu other of the nobler faculties, are in them' rudimental~ Bound up as we thus are by an identity in the character of our mental organization with the lower animals 've are yet, it will be observed, strikingly distinguished from them ~y ~his great advance in development. We have f~culhes In full force and activity, which the animals either possess not at all, or in so Jow and obscure a form as to be equivalent to non-existence. Now these parts of mind are. those which connect us with the things !hat are no~ of this world. We have veneration, promptIng us to the worship of the Deity, which the animals lack. We hav~ hope, to carry us on in thought beyond th~ bo.unds of hme. We have reason, to enable us to inqu~ re mto the c.llO..tacter of the Great Father, and the relation of u~, h~s humble creatures, towards him. We hav~ cons~Ienbousness and benevolence, bj which WA can In a faint and humble measure imitate, in our conduct, that which he exemplifies in the whole of his wondrous doings. Beyond this, mental science does not carry us in s_upport of religion : the rest depends on evidence .of a d1~erent kind. Bu~ i.t is surely much that we thus d1scover .In nature a provision for things so importan. t. rr:he existence. of faculties having .a regard to such things Is a good evidence that such things exist. The f~c:.. of God Is reflected in the organization of man, as a little pool reflects the glorious sun. . The affective or sentimental faculties are all of them hable to operate w hen.ever appropriate objects or stimuli a~e presented, and this they d? as irresistibly and unerr1? gly as the. tree suc~s up mOisture which it requires, w~th only th~s exception, that one faculty often interferes With th~ ac~1on of another, and operates instead by force of superiOr !nher~nt strength or teJ?porary activity. For e~ample, al1me~hveness may be 1n powerful operation With ~ep;ard to Its .appropriate object, producing a keen arpehte, and yet It may not act, in conRequence of the m~rc powerful opeJ:ation of cautiousness, w-arning against evll conseq~en~es .h.kely to .ensue from the desired indulgence. . Thrs liability to flit from under the control of one feeling to the control of auother, constitutes what i~C |