of
terms, the representatives of perceptions; consequently of their
abbreviations, and of the contrivances by which a proposition or
sentence is constructed. That they understand some words, is evident;
they know their own names, and, by certain sounds, can be made to stop
or advance, to seize or let go, to rise up or lie down; but the extent
of this intelligence is very limited, and altogether different from the
comprehension of a sentence.

It is not improbable that they dream; and, at such times, the
recollection of objects and scenes may be presented to them in visible
phantasmata; and in the delirium of canine madness, they are observed to
snap at imaginary existences; but this is far below the process that
constitutes reflection, which consists in the capacity of reviewing the
whole of our perceptions; and it has been endeavoured to point out that
this can only be effected through the medium of intelligent sound, or
its visible representative. If we were to contend for their capacity of
reflection, we must, at the same time, acknowledge, that they do not
appear to derive any improvement from the process; and to suppose them
endowed with that which was nugatory, and contributed in no degree to
their advancement, would be an idle and useless hypothesis. When not
employed and directed by man, their lives are principally occupied in
procuring food, and in the propagation of their species; and when their
appetites are satisfied, they repose or sleep: when not guided by
instinct, they seem to act from established habits, or the dictates of
immediate impression. They are capable of considerable acquirements
under the coercive tuition of man, and may be taught a variety of tricks
for his amusement or profit; but they do not appear to comprehend their
utility, or to hold these instructions in any estimation, as they never
practise them when alone. The most accomplished bear would not dance for
his own entertainment; and the learned pig never attempted to become a
school-master to the hogs of his acquaintance.

It has been previously noticed, that in man, and most animals, there
were movements of the highest importance to life, which were directed
by the Author of the universe, and over which they had no immediate
control, termed involuntary motions; so we find, in the tribe of
animals, various mental endowments, especially tending to the
preservation of the individual, and to the succession of the race, which
are not the