LOUIS AGASSIZ AND GEORGE BERKELEY 329 



whole history of life is a history of the acquisition of the lan- 

 guage of nature; for each stimulus to a vital act is a sign with a 

 significance ; and we have seen, page 63, that a living thing is 

 a being which, when affected by a stimulus, prepares itself for 

 the significance, of which, in course of nature, it is the sign. 

 Berkeley himself saw clearly, and he tells us in many places, 

 that it is not necessary that the language of nature be intelli- 

 gently apprehended in order to be instructive, for human speech 

 is often used to warn or to excite or to please, rather than to 

 call up mental images ; and one may be sure that all living things 

 respond to the language of nature to their advantage, without 

 knowing whether they consciously apprehend the benefit of re- 

 sponse or not. 



"It may also be worth while," says Berkeley, "to observe that 

 signs, being little considered in themselves, or for their own sake, 

 but only in their relative capacity, and for the sake of those 

 things whereof they are signs, it comes to pass that the mind 

 overlooks them, so as to carry its attention immediately on to the 

 thing signified. Thus, for example, in reading we run over the 

 characters with the slightest regard, and pass on to the meaning. 

 Hence it is frequent for men to say they see words, and notions, 

 and things in reading a book ; whereas in strictness they see only 

 the characters which suggest words, notions, and things. And by 

 parity of reason, may we not suppose that men, not resting in, 

 but overlooking the immediate and proper objects of sight, as in 

 their own nature of small moment, carry their attention onward 

 to the very things signified, and talk as if they saw the secondary 

 objects, which, in truth and strictness, are not seen, but only 

 suggested and apprehended by means of the proper objects of 

 sight, which alone are seen." 



" But, to cut short this chicane," says Alciphron, " I propound 

 it fairly to your own conscience, whether you really think God 

 Himself speaks every day and in every place to the eyes of all 

 men." 



"This is really and in truth my opinion," answers Euphranor, 

 "and it should be yours too, if you are consistent with yourself 

 and abide by your own definition of language. Since you can- 

 not deny that the great Mover and Author of nature constantly 



