possible, in a few words, to circumscribe the range of its meaning.
The sagacity of the human intellect, although by very slow gradations,
has accumulated the wonderful mass of knowledge we now possess on this
subject: and the investigations which have been made into the faculties
of animals, justify the conclusion that its comprehension is limited to
man. It would be highly interesting to trace the origin and progress of
our information, concerning the nature of time; but a short note to a
compressed essay, does not admit of such examination. However, it
appears evident, that the striking and regular phenomena of nature have
constituted some of our most important distinctions. Thus, the ebbing
and flowing of the tide have formed a very early notation; and we still
retain in our language the traces of its application in Whitsun_tide_,
Shrove_tide_, Allhallow_tide_, &c. The great divisions of time are well
understood; as day, from dawn; month, from moon; year, Anglo-Saxon gear,
from gyrdan, the girth (of the zodiac). A moderate knowledge of the
cognate languages of the north, would readily unravel the origin of all
the terms that have been employed by us and kindred nations, for the
purpose of characterising the succession of our perceptions. All these
subdivisions necessarily imply a comprehension of numbers.

From the experience of the past, man has inferred the _probability_ of
the future; for by natural knowledge, the probability, great as it is,
can only be deduced. The certainty has descended from a higher
authority. Although the grammar of our language has endeavoured to mark
our predictions of the future by certain signs; yet these do not convey
any definite intelligence of that which _is_ to come. In this state of
being, man may receive assurances of ulterior existence, but he cannot
invest his predictions with the certainty of numbers. The signs of Will
and Shall, the utmost boundaries of his future glance, are both verbs in
the present tense, and only signify his immediate intention of
performance, at a time which may _probably_ arrive.

INSTINCT.

It has been endeavoured, in the foregoing pages, to describe the
intellectual capacities of the human being, and to account for his
superiority, from the peculiarity of his structure, and the extended
faculties it has conferred. It has also been attempted to maintain, that
man, thus gifted, is the architect of his own mind; with the hopeful
expectation, th