VOICE IN MAN AND IN ANIMALS. 519 



seems to express feelings common to ourselves, and hence we like it. 

 The interest attaching to a comparison of the vocal apparatus of 

 animals with that of man has long been appreciated, and the hope 

 has been entertained of being able to explain the nature of all kinds 

 of voice by studying the structure of the organs. Toward the end of 

 the last century, Vicq d'Azyr attacked this problem. Having collected 

 larynges of a number of animals, he regarded them with a sort of 

 enthusiasm ; he expected to get from them a revelation. " It is a fine 

 spectacle," said he, "to see at a glance the structure of those infinitely- 

 diversified instruments with which each animal produces its own 

 proper modulations, thus contributing to Nature's grand concert." 



The anatomical characters of the vocal apparatus are now pretty 

 well known as regards most of the mammalia. The larynx of these 

 animals is formed upon the same plan as that of man ; in monkeys, 

 the resemblance is extreme. The impossibility of speaking is due, as 

 we have reason to suppose, to the conformation of the buccal cavity, 

 the lips, and the tongue. The studies of naturalists, which as yet 

 have not been directed to this point, do not warrant any positive 

 statement : nevertheless, the power possessed by some species of 

 pronouncing one or two syllables justifies a presumption. Does not 

 this vestige of speech indicate the very limited extent of a faculty, 

 not even a trace of which is found in most animals. In IV 15 the 

 great Leibnitz announced to our Academy the existence in Meissen 

 of a talking dog, " a peasant's clog, of the most ordinary appearance, 

 and of medium size." This extraordinary animal had learned, says 

 the narrator, some thirty words ; these it would repeat after its mas- 

 ter. The historian of the Academie des Sciences declares that he 

 would not have ventured to state such a fact " without such an au- 

 thority as M. Leibnitz, an eye-witness." But, despite so high an 

 authority, the story is a fable. Of the most intelligent dog we still 

 must say, " All he lacks is speech." Were it not that Nature raises 

 an obstacle, surely monkeys that live in the company of man would 

 make the attempt to speak. We must conclude that their intelligence 

 does not incline. them toward this sort of imitation, and that their 

 organs are not adapted for articulation. 



It is a curious and very interesting fact that, before receiving in- 

 struction of any kind, young deaf-mutes who live together quickly 

 discover means of understanding each other, so that they hardly ever 

 misinterpret the feelings and wants expressed by the gesticulations, 

 touches, and facial-muscle action, agreed upon. This instance of a 

 convention between individuals not possessed of the power of employ- 

 ing language of necessity carries our thoughts to the actions of cer- 

 tain animals. The mammalia have a voice that is susceptible of in- 

 flexions and intonations more or less diversified according to the 

 species; these they employ in making known to each other their appe- 

 tites, their wants, to call one another, to announce to one another their 



