Reflex operations of the mind are denied to brutes--even to the dog, an animal which the Almighty evidently created for the special service of man: hence, though the avenues to their minds are the same, reason has but a feeble grasp upon the sensations which there enter; and that mysterious power, quality, or impulse, which we term instinct, rises predominant, and leads to operations which in man could only be the result of reflection and experience. Yet, as we have said, the actions of the dog, and we may add of the elephant, the horse, and other animals, are not all instinctive, neither do all the actions of man proceed from a train of reasoning, for some of his, even, are instinctive: the love of offspring on the part of the mother is entirely instinctive in its source. It is, then, easy to see how it is that even the highest brute, with a mind limited as we have described, and with instincts which guide in the place of mind, can never improve or add to any store of knowledge, can never conceive one abstract idea--such as eternity, infinity, matter, space, etc.--and can never investigate the laws of creation--can, in fact, be only what it is. The utmost extent of something like knowledge which the most intelligent and sagacious dog acquires, dies with it, and its successor has to learn all for itself. As for language, in the true meaning of the word, of what use would it be to brutes? Among the highest, as far as the necessity of communication extends, cries or modulations of tone and certain actions suffice to convey a distinct meaning; among the lowest, there is no necessity even for utterance, and there is no sense of hearing, nor even of vision. Language supposes a mind constructed like that of man, and as he emerges from a rude to a cultivated state, in like proportion will his language increase in copiousness and perspicuity, if not in force. Let us here, without bewildering our reader in a maze of metaphysics, just glance at a few of the characteristics or faculties of mind, briefly anatomizing them, in order that we may clearly exhibit the mental distinction between man and the higher orders of beasts, by way of showing what the mind in each case derives from the inlets of the senses. 1. _A Knowledge of Self-existence, or Personality._--This knowledge appears to us to be rather instinctive than the result of reflection, as some believe; we know intuitively that we exist, because we feel, because we see and hear, because we move, because we hope and fear; nor will all the arguments which Berkeley or his disciples can adduce, convince any person that he exists only in idea.