56 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part L 



almost require some form of -language, for the dumb, deaf, 

 and blind girl, Laura Bridgman, was observed to use her 

 fingers while dreaming. 37 Nevertheless a long succession 

 of vivid and connected ideas may pass through the mind 

 without the aid of any form of language, as we may in- 

 fer from the prolonged dreams of dogs. We have, also, 

 seen that retriever-dogs are able to reason to a certain ex- 

 tent ; and this they manifestly do without the aid of lan- 

 guage. The intimate connection between the brain, as it is 

 now developed in us, and the faculty of speech, is well 

 shown by those curious cases of brain-disease, in which 

 speech is specially affected, as when the power to remem- 

 ber substantives is lost, while other words can be correctly 

 used. 38 There is no more improbability in the effects of 

 the continued use of the vocal and mental organs being 

 inherited, than in the case of handwriting, which depends 

 partly on the structure of the hand and partly on the dis- 

 position of the mind; and handwriting is certainly in- 

 herited. 39 



Why the organs now used for speech should have 

 been originally perfected for this purpose, rather than any 

 other organs, it is not difficult to see. Ants have consid- 

 erable powers of intercommunication by means of their 

 antennae, as shown by Huber, who devotes a whole chap- 

 ter to their language. We might have used our fingers 

 as efficient instruments, for a person with practice can re- 

 port to a deaf man every word of a speech rapidly de- 

 livered at a public meeting ; but the loss of our hands, 



37 See remarks on this head by Dr. Maudsley, ' The Physiology and 

 Pathology of Mind,' 2d edit. 1868, p. 199. 



38 Many curious cases have been recorded. See, for instance, c In- 

 quiries concerning the Intellectual Powers,' by Dr. Abercrombie, 1838, 

 p. 150. 



39 ' The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,' vol 

 ii. p. 6. 



