extent, of the form and consistence of a body, as, for exam. ple, whether it be sharp or blunt, soft or hard.

118. This faculty resides more especially in the hand, which is not only endowed with a more delicate tact, but, owing to the disposition of the fingers, and the opposition of the thumb to the other fingers, is capable of so moulding itself around objects, as to multiply the points of contact. Hence, touch is an attribute of man, rather than of other animals; for among these latter, scarcely any, except the monkeys, have the faculty of touch in their hands, or, as it is technically termed, of palpation.

119. In some animals, this faculty is exercised by other organs. Thus the trunk of the elephant is a most perfect organ of touch; and probably the mastodon, whose numerous relics are found scattered in the superficial layers of the earth's crust, was furnished with a similar organ. Serpents make use of their tongue for touch; insects employ their palpi, and snails their tentacles, for the same purpose.

6. The Voice.

120. Animals have not only the power of perceiving, but many of them have also the faculty of producing sounds of every variety, from the roaring of the lion to the song of the bird as it salutes the rising sun. It is moreover to be remarked that those which are endowed with a voice, likewise have the organ of hearing well developed.

121. Animals employ their voice either for communication with each other, or to express their sensations, their enjoyments, their sufferings. Nevertheless, this faculty is en joyed by but a small minority of animals; with but very few exceptions, only the mammals, the birds, and a few reptiles are endowed with it. All others are dumb. Worms and insects have no true voice; for we must not

mistake for it the buzzing of the bee, which is merely a noise created by the vibration of the wings; nor the grating shriek of the Locust, (grasshopper,) caused by the friction of his legs against his wings; nor the shrill noises of the cricket, or the tell-tale call of the katydid, produced by the friction of the wing covers upon each other, and in numerous similar cases which might be cited.

122. Consequently, were the mammals, the birds, and the frogs to be struck out of existence, the whole Animal Kingdom would be dumb. It is difficult for us, living in the midst of the thousand various sounds which strike our ear from all sides, to conceive of such a state. Yet such a state did doubtless prevail for thousands of ages, on the surface of our globe, when the watery world alone was inhabited, and before man, the birds, and the mammals were called into being.

C

123. In man and the mammals, the voice is formed in an organ called the larynx, situated at the upper part of the windpipe, below the bone of the tongue, (a.) The human larynx, the part called Adam's apple, is composed of several cartilaginous bpieces, called the thyroid cartilage, (b,) the cricoid cartilage, (c,) and the small arytenoid cartilages. Within these are found two large folds of elastic substance, known by the name Fig. 22. of the vocal cords, (m.) Two other analogous folds, the superior ligaments of the glottis, (n,) are situated a little above the preceding. The glottis (o) is the space between these four folds. The arrangement of the vocal cords, and of the interior of the glottis in man, is indicated by dotted lines, in Fig. 22.

124. The mechanism of the voice is as follows: the air, on its way to the lungs, passes the vocal cords. So long as these are in repose, no sound is produced; but the moment they are made tense they narrow the aperture, and oppose

an obstacle to the current of air, and it cannot pass without causing them to vibrate. These vibrations produce the voice; and as the vocal cords are susceptible of different degrees of tension, these tensions determine different sounds; giving an acute tone when the tension is great, but a grave and dull one when the tension is feeble.

125. Some mammals have, in addition, large cavities which communicate with the glottis, and into which the air reverberates, as it passes the larynx. This arrangement is especially remarkable in the howling monkeys, which are distinguished above all other animals for their deafening howls.

126. In birds, the proper larynx is very simple, destitute of vocal cords, and incapable of producing sounds; but at the lower end of the windpipe there is a second or inferior larynx, which is very complicated in structure. It is a kind

Fig. 23.

of bony drum, (a,) having within it two glottides, formed at the top of the two branches (bb) of the windpipe, (c,) each provided with two vocal cords. The different pieces of this apparatus are moved by peculiar muscles, the number of which varies in

- different families. In birds which have a very monotonous cry, such as the gulls, the herons, the cuckoos, and the mergansers,

(Fig. 23,) there is but one or two pairs; parrots have three; and the birds of song have five.

127. Man alone, of all the animal creation, has the power of giving to the tones he utters a variety of definite or articulate sounds; in other words, he alone has the gift of speech.

CHAPTER FOURTH.

OF INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT.

128. BESIDES the material substance of which the body is constructed, there is also an immaterial principle, which, though it eludes detection, is none the less real, and to which we are constantly obliged to recur in considering the phenomena of life. It originates with the body, and is developed with it, while yet it is totally apart from it. The study of this inscrutable principle belongs to one of the highest branches of Philosophy; and we shall here merely allude to some of its phenomena which elucidate the development and rank of animals.

129. The constancy of species is a phenomenon depending on the immaterial nature. Animals, and plants also, produce their kind, generation after generation. We shall hereafter show that all animals may be traced back, in the embryo, to a mere point in the yolk of the egg, bearing no resemblance whatever to the future animal; and no inspection would enable us to declare with certainty what that animal is to be. But even here an immaterial principle is present, which no external influence can essentially modify, and determines the growth of the future being. The egg of the hen, for instance, cannot be made to produce any other animal than a chicken, and the egg of the codfish produces only the cod. It may therefore be said with truth, that the chicken and the cod existed in the egg before their formation as such.

130. PERCEPTION is a faculty springing from this principle. The organs of sense are the instruments for receiving

sensations, but they are not the faculty itself, without which they would be useless. We all know that the eye and ear may be open to the sights and sounds about us; but if the mind happens to be preoccupied, we perceive them not. We may even be searching for something which actually lies within the compass of our vision; the light enters the eye as usual, and the image is formed on the retina; but, to use a common expression, we look without seeing, unless the mind that perceives is directed to the object.

131. In addition to the faculty of perceiving sensations, the higher animals have also the faculty of recalling past impressions, or the power of memory. Many animals retain a recollection of the pleasure or pain they have experienced, and seek or avoid the objects which may have produced these sensations; and, in doing so, they give proof of judgment.

132. This fact proves that animals have the faculty of comparing their sensations and of deriving conclusions from them; in other words, that they carry on a process of reasoning.

133. These different faculties, taken together, constitute intelligence. In man, this superior principle, which is an emanation of the divine nature, manifests itself in all its splendor. God" breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul." It is man's prerogative, and his alone, to regulate his conduct by the deductions of reason; he has the faculty of exercising his judgment not only upon the objects which surround him, and of apprehending the many relations which exist between himself and the external world; he may also apply his reason to immaterial things, observe the operations of his own intellect, and, by the analysis of his faculties, may arrive at the consciousness of his own nature, and even conceive of that Infinite Spirit, "whom none by searching can find out."