276 THE GROUNDWORK OF SCIENCE

The difference of kind which we before* represented as exist-

ing (and which we consider does exist) between man and mere

animals, must, we hope, be now evident to the reader's mind.

Nevertheless, as we declared when directly considering the

psychical powers of brutes, we have no desire to dogmatize

with respect to this matter. That there is, and must be,

a very real and great difference of kind between a nature

essentially, though latently, intellectual, and possessing a

capacity for the apprehension of these highest truths, and

a merely sensitive power, is, for us, unquestionable. But

whether that higher psychical nature exists latent and in-

capable of manifestation in animals as it does in the human

infant, is a question not absolutely evident, though, as

we believe, the amount of evidence which does exist tells

strongly against the view that animals have a nature which

is in its essence potentially rational.

Yet there is no absolute impossibility that they may, and,

if they do, then variations in the amount and kinds of

its incipient and ultimate manifestations might have been

developed by " Natural Selection." But to this question we

shall return in our next and final chapter, when we consider

possibilities as to the nature of the cosmos. Were human

intelligence really evolved from a hidden intelligence in

animals, that fact would in no way invalidate or weaken

the difference between a higher nature, such as man's, and

a much lower one, such as that commonly attributed to

animals. Its only effect would be, as before said, to raise

mere animal life in our esteem, and in no way to depress

or diminish our respect for our own mental powers. It

would be a process of psychical "levelling up."

It is the opposite process, that of " levelling down," which

is so profoundly unreasonable, and which we shall almost

immediately f proceed to consider.

* See ante, p. 216. t See infra, p. 278.

The difference of kind which we before* represented as exist-

ing (and which we consider does exist) between man and mere

animals, must, we hope, be now evident to the reader's mind.

Nevertheless, as we declared when directly considering the

psychical powers of brutes, we have no desire to dogmatize

with respect to this matter. That there is, and must be,

a very real and great difference of kind between a nature

essentially, though latently, intellectual, and possessing a

capacity for the apprehension of these highest truths, and

a merely sensitive power, is, for us, unquestionable. But

whether that higher psychical nature exists latent and in-

capable of manifestation in animals as it does in the human

infant, is a question not absolutely evident, though, as

we believe, the amount of evidence which does exist tells

strongly against the view that animals have a nature which

is in its essence potentially rational.

Yet there is no absolute impossibility that they may, and,

if they do, then variations in the amount and kinds of

its incipient and ultimate manifestations might have been

developed by " Natural Selection." But to this question we

shall return in our next and final chapter, when we consider

possibilities as to the nature of the cosmos. Were human

intelligence really evolved from a hidden intelligence in

animals, that fact would in no way invalidate or weaken

the difference between a higher nature, such as man's, and

a much lower one, such as that commonly attributed to

animals. Its only effect would be, as before said, to raise

mere animal life in our esteem, and in no way to depress

or diminish our respect for our own mental powers. It

would be a process of psychical "levelling up."

It is the opposite process, that of " levelling down," which

is so profoundly unreasonable, and which we shall almost

immediately f proceed to consider.

* See ante, p. 216. t See infra, p. 278.