BRUTE is a name given, in common language, to all those classes of living creatures which are conceived to be destitute of reason, and particularly the beasts of the field. It is evidently derived from the Greek peso, (whence to feed, which may be traced to the Hebrew or to roz, (whence elrel, food,) these ani mals having always been noted for their voracious ten dency, prona et vcntri obcdicntia.
In treating the article ANIMAL, wc shortly adverted to the speculations of philosophers concerning the disputed boundaries between the imperfect modification of life peculiar to vegetables, and the higher principle of ani mation inherent in sensitive beings. The object of the following remarks is, by comparing the chief resem blances and diversities observable among the rational and irrational tribes, to ascertain the characteristic fea tures of distinction which mark the degradation of the brutish below the intelligent nature.
On this point, two leading opinions have been main tained ;—the one, that the capacities of brutes differ from those of man in degree only ; the other, that they differ not merely in degree, but also in kind.
In some particulars, the faculties of the lower animals appear to be at I. ast t qual to the human. Many of them give proofs of the most acute sensibility in their percep tive organs, while, at the same time, they possess abili ties for active exertion, a. hich set the strength and pa tience of man at difi:ioce. But these advantages can he claimed by a very limited proportion of the less perfect animals; and upon the whole, the pre-eminence of our race is such as scarcely to admit of a comparison with the other inhabitants of this globe.
Even this inconsiderable superiority of certain ani mals, in respect of hardiness, agility, muscular power, and organic acuteness, is much less discernible when we view man in that condition which is the least removed from that of brutes. The savage pursues a mode of life, which, though it exposes him to unceasing peril, brings all his corporeal powers into action; and, however little he may be indebted to the co-operation of his fellows, or to the adventitious benefits resulting from civilized life, he is able, under the most unfavourable combinations of circumstances, to assert his supremacy over all the fa milies of birds and beasts which people his native woods, not only in consequence of the ascendency of his reason, but even in the application of dexterity, force, and cun ning ; the only weapons which his winged and quadru ped rivals are capable of wielding.
The brutes appear to be guided almost entirely by appetite and instinct. The gratification of their senses, if not the primary law of their existence, is at least the object which seems perpetually to occupy them. When they are left to themselves, this desire of sensitive in dulgence rarely proceeds beyond the bounds which are consistent with the preservation of the individual, or the propagation of the species.—And whenever these ends are promoted by means which are not evidently subser vient to enjoyment, or which presuppose an intuitive sagacity not referable either to sense or to reason, we ascribe the result to instinct. It is possible, however, and, indeed, it is highly probable, that in most, if not in. all, the cases of what we denominate instinct, the ani mal is incited by sensation, or appetitive orgasm. as much as when we can discern the impulse by which it is actuated. And there seems to be great reason to
suspect, not only that the senses of some animals are finer than ours, but even that they possess additional senses, enabling them to discover certain qualities of alimentary substances, and certain changes in the state of the atmosphere, which are not discernible by hu man organs.
But though, in a state of nature, all the actions of brute animals may, in general, be referred to instinctive impulse and sensual desire, they are evidently capable of profiting by experience., and of being moulded by tuition, so as to exercise powers which they never ac quire in any degree of proficiency, till they become the subjects of instruction. Whether we consider them as learning by their own observation, or as being trained by discipline, we must allow that they are possessed of cer tain faculties analogous to those powers which render man sus:eptible of education. They could not be taught any of those feats which are sometimes exhibited, unless they retained in the memory the impressions made on their senses, and unless they were actuated by motives to exercise volition, or to submit to authority. Innu merable instances might be produced, of the tenacity with which they preserve trains of ideas, and of the fa cility and accuracy with which they can retrace a seri( s of objects, even in an inverted order ; as when a clog or a horse returns by a way along which he has passed only once, and at a distance of time which precludes the sup position of his being guided by the smell. A horse will, at the distance of many veers, remember the pre cise spot where he has been frightened, though no ves of the terrific object should remain. We have tic certain means of determining how far Aristotle's asser tion is correct, that brutes are destitute of the power of reminiscence, or the voluntary effort to recover what has escaped the recollection. Dr Reid's opinion, that they cannot measure time as men do, by days, mouths, or years, and that they have no distinct knowledge of the interval between things which they remember, must be received with some limitation. In some pastoral dis tricts of this country, where the dogs are accustomed to follow their owners to church, it is a well attested fact, that some dogs have formed the habit of going every Sunday, even when divine service was not performed, and when, from the uniformity of the occupations going on in such scenes every day of the week, it is difficult to perceive what particular association could have influ enced them, unless they had acquired the capacity of numbering the days of the week. But if brutes do pos sess this faculty, it is probably in a very imperfect de gree ; and we would require stronger testimony than that of Montaigne, to induce us to credit the story of the arithmetical oxen at Susa, every one of which, being in the daily practice of turning an hundred rounds of a wheel for drawing water, was so accustomed to this number, that no force could prevail on him to proceed beyond it. The thing will not, however, appear alto gether inconceivable to those who have had opportuni ties of perceiving how well the most unwieldy animals, such as elephants, camels, and bears, may he taught to dance, and how many notes of a tune some birds can learn in a very short time ;—facts which render it pro bable, that these creatures may, to a certain extent, form measures of duration, and acquire the ideas of number.