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Show \ 180 MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALfJ. recognized as free will in man, heing nothi_ng more f'ban a vicissitude in the supremacy of the faculttes over each other. · d" ·d 1 It is a comm )n mistake to suppose that the I? I v~ ~a s of our own species are all of them formed with s1mllar faculties-similar in power and tendency-and that education and the influence of circumstances. produ?e all the differences which we observe. There I~ not, In the old systems of rnental phil_osophy! any doctnne more opposite t? the truth t~an this. It Is refuted at once by t~e great differences of Intellectual tendency and mor~l disposition to be observed among a gr?up of young children who have been all brought up in Circumstances pe1~fectly identical-even in twins, who have never been but In ?ne place, under the chat·ge of one nurse, att~nd:e~ to al1ke trl all respects. The mental characters. ofindtvlduals are inhePently various, as the forms of thet~ persons ~nd the features of their faces are; and educatwn and _circumstances thouo-h their influence is not to be desptsed, are incapable of 0 entirely altering these cha1:a~terd, where they are strongly developed. That the ongmal c~aracters of mind are dependent on the vol~me of partt_cular .. parts of the brain and the general qu~hty of that VJscus, is proved by induction fr?m an extensive range of ob_servations, the force of wh1ch must have been long since universally acknowledged but for the ~lnpreparedness. of mankind to admit a functional connexwn betw~en. ~1nd and body. The different mental characters of Individuals may be presumed from analogy to depend on the sa!lle law of development which we have seen deter~ ntng forms of bei no- and the mental characters of particular species. Thi~ we may conceive_ as c~r~ying forward the intellectual powers and moral dispositions of some to a high pitch, repressing t~wse of other~ a_t a m?d~rate amount. and thus producing all the var1~hes whiCh we see in our fellow-creatures. Thus a Cuv1er and a Newton are but expansions of a clown, and the perso~ emphatically called the wicked man is on_e whose highest moral feelings are rudimental. Such differences are not confined to our species; they are only less strongly marked in manv of the inferior animals. There are clever dogs B'1d wiclced horses as well as clever men and wicked men, and education sha~·pens the talents, and in some degree regulates the dispositions of animals, as it does our own • .MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS. 181 Here I may advert to a very interesting analogy between / the mental characters of the types in the quinary system of zoology and the chara~ters of individual men. We have seen that ~he pre-emment type is usually endowed With_ an harmonious assemblage of the mental qualities belonging to the whole .group, w hi!e the sub- typical inclines to feroc_Ity,_ t~e rasonal to gentleness, and so on. ·Now among lndividu::'-ls, some appear to be almost exclusively of the s_ub-typiCa~, ~nd others of the rasorial charac-ters, while to a limited number is given the finely assorted ass~mblage of qualities which places them en pa:allel ~1th th~ typical. To this may be attributed th! Universality whi.~h marks all the very highest brains, such as those of ~hakspeare and Scott, men of whom it has been remarked that they must have possessed within thernsel ves not o~ly the poet, but the ·warrior, the states-man, and the philosopher; and who moreover appear to have had the mild and manly, the ~oral and the forci-ble parts . of our nature in the most perfect balance. There_ Is, !levertheless, a general adaptation of the ment~ I const1tubon. of man to the circumstances in which he ltves, as there Is between all the parts of nature to each ot?er. T?e goo~s of the physical world are onlv to be realize_ d by Inge!luuy and industrious exertion; behold, accordn~ gly, a~ Intellect full of device, and a fabric of the faculttes wluc~ would go to pieces or destroy itself if it weroe not kept Ir_t cons~ant occupation. Nature presents to~., muc~ tha~ 1s subltme and beautiful: behold faculties wlu~h d_e~Ight 1n contemplating these properties of hers and In rising upon. them, as upon wings, to the presenc~ of the Eternal. It Is also :'-world of difficulties and perils a~d s~~ ~ow large a por~Ion of our species are endowed With VI,_ ~n ous .Powers w htclJ.Itake pleasure in meeting and ove!com1ng~ dlffi~ulty and dY'~ger. Even that principle on WhiC_h, our _iaculhes are constituted-a wide range of freedom In which to act for aU various occasions-necessitates a resentful faculty, by which individuals may protect themsel ve~ from !he undue and capricious exercise of each ot!1er s faculhe~, and t~us preserve I heir individual rights Sc a.lso th<:re IS cautiousness, to give us a tendency to provide ag:amst the evils by which we may be assailed • a~d secretiveness, to enable us to conceal whatever b · ' ~Ivulg-:d, woul~ be otf~nsive to others or injurious to~~~~ P.!ves--a funclton whwh ob"iously has a certaic legiti |
