VOICE IN MAN AND IN ANIMALS. 521 



served that the different explosions of voice have each its own 

 meaning, whenever it is designed to establish concert of action be- 

 tween individuals. The cercopitheci, the most graceful and sprightly 

 monkeys of Africa, live together in more or less numerous groups. 

 Having for their usual dwelling-places the branches of trees, they 

 descend to the ground with great misgiving, and only in order to go 

 foraging. On an expedition the band of cercopitheci march under 

 the command of a chief, who is always an old male experienced in 

 the ways of men and animals. At first the troop advance cautiously, 

 passing along the highest branches of the trees. Now and then the 

 chief climbs into one of the loftiest tree-tops and peers into space. If 

 all is well, he makes announcement accordingly in guttural tones, 

 and the troop show that they are reassured ; if the chief suspects or 

 perceives danger, he utters a peculiar cry, which is understood by 

 all, and the troop retreat in confusion. The marauders, having 

 reached the edge of the forest, descend to the ground. Then begins 

 a hideous massacre of sorgho and maize. The sajous, those pretty 

 little South American monkeys kept in every menagerie, also show 

 the resources of the inarticulate voice as a means of communication 

 among animals. One day the naturalist Rengger, while wandering 

 along the border of a forest, observed a family of these monkeys 

 whose conduct interested him. One individual, having parted com- 

 pany with the rest, had found an orange-tree loaded with ripe fruit. 

 Without going to the trouble of turning about, he uttered a series of 

 short cries, and made for the tree with the speed of an arrow. The 

 others understood all, and in an instant were assembled amid the 

 branches of the tree, enjoying the savory fruit. If man had no artic- 

 ulate speech, he would have no difficulty in constructing a language 

 by the aid of sounds or cries diversified by intonation, intensity, and 

 resonance, and variously combined. Such a language no doubt could 

 never equal the languages of Homer, of Dante, of Shakespeare, and of 

 Bossuet, but it would answer all the essential needs of life. By sup- 

 posing such an imaginary though realizable mode of communication, 

 we may form an idea of the more or less limited language of animals. 

 In mammals the sounds of the voice differ considerably with re- 

 spect to volume, timbre, and pitch; these differences we can in some 

 measure account for by peculiarities in the conformation of the larynx. 

 In horned animals the vocal cords are lax, but little prominent, never 

 coming near to one another, nor vibrating with much force. The 

 sounds they produce are grave, as in the lowing of cattle. The ro- 

 dents, as hares, rabbits, squirrels, and mice, whose vocal cords are 

 thin, emit acute cries. Some species, belonging to different mamma- 

 lian groups, have air-pouches opening into the larynx which produce 

 extraordinary resonance. Some monkeys are distinguished for the 

 enormous development of these pouches, and their voice is very loud. 

 The howling monkeys, also called stentors, which inhabit the deepest 



