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awake , and their senses are in full exercise ^ but they frequently think ev £ n in their steep , A dog , as he lies extended by a fire-side , will sometimes shew * by the whining noise he makes , and by the catching motion of
his feet , that he is enjoying an imaginary chase in a dream . A cat , dissolved in sleep , will often , by various starts and agitation , convince any unprejudiced observer , that she fancies her prey full in view , and is preparing to . seize it . I remember a cat cf
my own , who one evening enjoyed , for five or eight minutes , this pleasing illusion ; until , at last , her eagerness , agitation of spirits , and a spring she endeavoured to make , awoke her from her golden dream $ upon which she shewed as much concern and
disappointment as she could discover by disconsolate die wing . Now there can be no imagination without thought : nay , these two are , perhaps , in fact , things synonimous ; nor can there be thought without some degree of reason , and that which reasons must be something
superior to matter , however modified , and essentially different from it . I have not time to enter deep into this subject . I cannot , however help giving it as my judgment , that , before a man can coolly and deliberately deny
rationality to brutes , he must have renounced his own . And Why that tiobte faculty which , pro gradu , produces similar effects in us and them , should be called by a different name in them and us , I own myself quite at a loss to determine . If I can at all
account for it 9 the pride of man is the only reason I am able to assign . We are , right or wrong , for monopolizing every excellence to ourselves , and for allowing little or none to other animals , which is forgetting that inferior animals are Wot only our fellow-creatures , but ( if it may fee said without dfferice ) , otir elder brethren ^ for their
creation was previous to-out ' s . If , then , tmites reason , that in them Which does ' reason iBrttst be ffpirit , or an immaterial principle ; wlirich prin-< nple being ittfmaterial , must be perfectly simple and nncampounded ; if
^ rffectty simple , it must be , in its Wwn nature , irieortitpttbte ; and if in-^ A ^ ruplifble , ttnnMrttoL And I will honestly Writes * , that I iievet y £ t Heard bne ; sitogit ^^ ttrjfuteient urg ^ d against trie imtiioYtality of brutes , Which , if admitted , wbuM hot , ihn-
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tcttis mutandis , be equally cohclu > fc against the immortality of man . ^ What I have offered may seem strange and surprising to those who have not viewed the subject on both sides of it . It would have seemed strange to myself a few years ago . I accounted for all the internal and external operations of brutes upou thf principles of mechanism . But I W 2 s soon driven from this absurdit y , b < - dint of evidence . Was a cat a mere
machine , she could not distinguish 3 mouse from a -kitten ; but would bo equall y indifferent ' to both * Was a dog a mere machine * he Would not distinguish his master from a rabbitmuch less would he pursue the latter and caress the former ; any more th air a clock can know its owner , or one
statue can hunt another . I next had recourse to instinct . But 1 soon found , upon careful examination , that this is a mere teriii withoat an idea ; a name for we know not what : and lie that would distinguish between instinct
and reason , ( for if instinct has any meaning at all , it must signify reason ) must find a medium between matter and spirit . But I am rather for expunging the word quite , as a term which , in its present application at least , signifies just nothing : and like all such unmeaning terms , either conduces to no end , or , at least , to a very
bad one ; as oaly tending * to confuse and embarrass , and ** darken counsel by words without knowledge . ' By the way , this is not the only word which , were I to write an exmirff * - ** 1 1 tory index to our language , I tvoula utterly proscribe * But whatever I
retain , chance ^ fortune , luck-oxA insttnet , should have no quarter , because they are " wells without water , - terms without ideas - , arid words are Gnty so far valuable « s they are the vehicles 6 i meaning .
I cannot wholly ditttifos the subject without © bberving another pa rticular ki favour < rffcW&pirttfcatity of brutes ; h a ** u * ly > * wfeat id Gtto \ &tfAy ^ fr cnltas i < m # i < Wtoa , o * pow ^ of voluntary Tmt ^ km from j ^ ace to place . M ° tiort its ^ lC- brttipiy ccWisi ^ Hed , i » " ° J always -an indication of ali ifltdhg ^ ^ igent \^ tthin ; btit voluti tStt-y ^ a ^ i » . > and Wiust be Isiicli in t ^ very
mature ofthiHgs . An inmi&ate W m ih tokMtih b ? fcdfti * e * t&i < # *** & > v ^ ould , as it ia * ih * vt 3 h * < tHy aWow ^ a , g " on ih W tktm Um t * d ? in * ii £ tunh
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348 Speech of Mr . Top lady ' s , on Brutes Tiaviny Sotits .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1815, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1761/page/20/
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