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Show 34: THE DESCENT OF 1\:!A..J.~. PAn.T r. CHAPTER II. CoMPARISON OF THE MENTAL PowERS oF MAN AND TIIE LowER ANIMALS. 'The difference in mental power between the highest ape and the lowest savage, immense- Certain instinc~s in common- The emotions- Curiosity- Imitation-Attentwn- Memory-Ima-gm. a t'w n- Reason- Proo<r ressive improvement- T. ools and weapons used by animals -Language - Self~conscwusn.e~sSense of beauty- Belief in God, spiritual agencws, superstttlons. \VE have seen in the last chapter that man bears in his bodily structure clear traces of his descent fro~ some lower form; but it may be urged that, as m~n differs so greatly in his mental powe~· from all ~ther ammals, there must be some error in this concluswn. No doubt the difference in this respect is enormous, even if we compare the mind of one of the lowest savages, who has no words to express any number higher than four, ~nd who uses no abstract terms for the commonest obJects or affections,1 with that of the most highly organised ape. The difference would, no doubt, still remain immense, even if one of the higher apes had been improved or civilised as much as a dog has been in comparison with its parent-form, the wolf or jackal. The Fuegians rank amoncrst the lowest barbarians ; but I was continually 0 . struck with surprise how closely the three natives on board H.M.S. " Beagle," who had lived some years in Eno·land and could talk a little English, resembled us b • in disposition and in most of our mental faculties. If no 1 See the evidence on these points, as given by Lubbock, 'Prehistoric 'rimes,' p. 354, &c. 'CJI.AP. II. 1\iENTAL POWERS. 35 organic being excepting man had possessed any mental power, or if his powers had been of a wholly different nature from those of the lower animals, then we should never have been able to convince ourselves that our high faculties had been gradually developed. But it can be clearly shewn that there is no fundamental difference of this kind. We must also admit that there is a much wider interval in mental power between one of the lowest fishes, as a lamprey or lancelet, and one of the higher apes, than between an ape and man; yet this immense interval is filled up by numberless gradations. Nor is the difference slight in moral disposition between a barbarian, such as the man described by the old navigator Byron, who dashed his child on the rocks for dropping a basket of sea-urchins, and a Howard or Clarkson; and in intellect, between a savage who does not use any abstract terms, and aN ewton or Shakspeare. Differences of this kind between the highest men of the highest races and the lowest savages, are connected by the finest gradations. Therefore it is possible that they might pass and be developed into each other. My object in this chapter is solely to shew that there is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties. Each division of the subject might have been extended into a separate essay, but must here be treated briefly. As no classification of the mental powers has been universally accepted, I shall arrange my remarks in the order most convenient for my purpose ; and will select those facts which have most struck me, with the hope that they may produce some effect on the reader. With respect to animals very low in the scale, I shall have to give some additional facts under Sexual Selection, shewing that their mental powers are higher than D 2 |