1. It is to be wished that Mencius had said distinctly men from birds and beasts was. According to Choo He, men and creatures have the 理 (intellectual and moral principle) of Heaven and earth to form their nature, and the 气 (matter of Heaven and Earth to form their bodies, only men＇s 气is more correct than that of beasts, so that they are able to fill up the capacity of their nature. This denies any essential difference between men and animals, and what difference it allows is corporeal or material. ChaouK＇e says: 几希, 无几也知义与不和义之间耳, "几希 means not much. It is simply the interval between the knowledgeof righteousness, and the want of that knowledge." This is so far correct, but the difference which it indicates cannot be said to be "not great".—But is it not the object of Mencius to indicate the character of that which differences men and animals, and not its amount? 几希=is something minute. A commen. Ch＇in(陈) refers us to an expression in the Shoo-king,—人心为危,—as forming a key to the passage. In that, 人心 is the mind prone to err, in distinction from the 道心,"the mind of reason", which it is said is minute.