440 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



race. Before the dawn of history there seems to have been in vogue the 

 war-song, the dance-tune, the epic recitative, the religious chant, all 

 accompanied by appropriate gesture and frequently by such instru- 

 ments as the age could produce. The Orphic legends bear witness 

 to the real or imagined power of the musical art. When in its infancy, 

 it was usually accompanied by gesture and pantomime. We all can 

 bear witness to the tendency of emotional individuals to fall instinct- 

 ively into gesticulaton in order to emphasize their words. Popular 

 audiences are so much more influenced by their feelings than by their 

 judgment that they are often " carried away " by the commonplaces of 

 a skillful elocutionist, but remain unmoved by the most profound 

 wisdom of the statuesque orator. How contagious emotionalism is 

 likely to be is strikingly shown by the anecdote Franklin tells about the 

 effect of Whitefield's oratory upon his purse. 



How jejune must be the psychic life of those peoples that are with- 

 out any of these arts becomes evident after a moment's reflection. 

 Even if their languages were far better adapted to the expression of 

 thought than most of them are, their soul life would nevertheless be 

 lacking in some of the most effective modes of utterance. It was 

 doubtless this thought that Tennyson had in mind when he wrote : 



Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. 



We need to remember, however, that the word better is used in this 

 connection in the European sense. Yet John Stuart Mill is probably 

 right when he says : " Few human creatures would consent to be 

 changed into any of the lower animals, for a promise of the fullest 

 allowance of beastly pleasures; no intelligent human being would con- 

 sent to be a fool, no instructed person would be an ignoramus, no 

 person of feeling and conscience would be selfish and base, even though 

 they should be persuaded that the fool, the dunce or the rascal is 

 better satisfied with his lot than they with theirs." He puts the case 

 still more effectively in the words : " It is better to be a human being 

 dissatisfied than a pig satisfied ; better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than 

 a fool satisfied. And if the fool or the pig is of a different opinion, it is 

 because they only know their own side of the question. The other 

 party to the comparison knows both." It is evident, then, that speech, 

 when most carefully and conscientiously used, is but a feeble reflection 

 of man's inner self. When, on the other hand, we consider man's 

 liability to error, his passive indifference to truth and his proneness to 

 deliberate falsehood, we must admit that language and fact do not 

 often correspond with each other. While it is not true, according to 

 the well-known saying of Talleyrand, that speech was given to man 

 to enable him to conceal his thoughts, that is so employed in number- 

 less instances who shall gainsay? 



