Shame on you for being
suspicious! You are surprised at the reason, the mind, of a little
despised insect; and that proves,--don't be offended,--the narrowness
of your education in science. I wish, in regard to the thinking
instinctive soul of animals, you had read the Greek Philo, or, at
least, the treatise of Hieronymus Rorarius, '_quod animalia bruta
ratione utantur melius homine_; or his oration '_Pro muribus_;'--or
that you knew what Lipsius and the great Leibnitz thought of the mental
power of beasts, or that you were aware what the profound Rabbi
Maimonides has said about their souls; you would not then take me for a
demon on account of my understanding, or measure the spiritual
faculties by the proportions of the body. I suppose, at last, you will
come to the shrewd opinion of the Spanish physician, Gomez Pereira, who
could find nothing more in animals than mere artificial machines,
without thought or freedom of will, moving arbitrarily and
automatically. Yet, no; I cannot deem you so absurd, and am convinced
that you have long ago learnt better through my humble person.
Moreover, I do not well understand what you call wonders, or in what
way you are able to divide, into the wonderful and natural, the
appearances of our being, which, in reality, are ourselves, as we and
they mutually condition each other. Do not, therefore, wonder at any
thing because it has not yet occurred to you, or because you fancy you
do not see the connexion of cause and effect; that only proves the
natural or diseased obtuseness of your sight, which injures your
perception. But,--do not take it amiss, Mr. Peregrine,--the drollest
part of the business is, that you want to split yourself into two
parts, one of which recognises and willingly believes the so-called
wonders; the other, on the contrary, is mightily astonished at this
recognition and belief. Has it ever occurred to you, that you believe
in the images of dreams?"

"I!" exclaimed Peregrine--"My dear fellow, how can you talk of dreams,
which are only the result of some disorder in our corporeal or
intellectual structure?"

At these words Master Flea burst into a laugh, as fine as it was
mocking, and then said to Mr. Tyss, who was not a little confounded,

"My poor friend, is your understanding so little enlightened, that you
do not see the folly of such opinions? Since the time that Chaos
melted together into plastic matter,--it may be a tolerably long time
ago,--the spirit o