Chap. II. MENTAL POWERS. 59 



plan with ours, and which are used as a means of commu- 

 nication, it was obviously probable, if the power of com- 

 munication had to be improved, that these same organs 

 would have been still further developed ; and this has 

 been effected by the aid of adjoining and well-adapted 

 parts, namely the tongue and lips. 40 The fact of the 

 higher apes not using their vocal organs for speech, 1:0 

 doubt depends on their intelligence not having been 

 sufficiently advanced. The possession by them of organs, 

 which with long-continued practice might have been 

 used for speech, although not thus used, is paralleled by 

 the case of many birds which possess organs fitted for 

 singing, though they never sing. Thus, the nightingale 

 and crow have vocal organs similarly constructed, these 

 being used by the former for diversified song, and by 

 the latter merely for croaking. 41 



The formation of different languages and of dis- 

 tinct species, and the proofs that both have been de- 

 veloped through a gradual process, are curiously the 

 same. 42 But we can trace the origin of many words 

 further back than in the case of species, for we can 

 perceive how they have actually arisen from the 

 imitation of various sounds. We find in distinct 

 languages striking homologies due to community of 

 descent, and analogies due to a similar process of 



40 See some good remarks to this effect by Dr. Maudsley, ' The 

 Physiology and Pathology of Mind,' 1868, p. 199. 



41 Macgillivray, 'Hist, of British Birds,' vol. ii. 1839, p. 29. An 

 excellent observer, Mr. Blackwall, remarks that the magpie learns to 

 pronounce single words, and even short sentences, more readily than 

 ulmost any other British bird ; yet, as he adds, after long and closely 

 investigating its habits, he has never known it, in a state of nature, 

 display any unusual capacity for imitation. ' Kesearches in Zoology,' 

 1834, p. 158. 



42 See the very interesting parallelism between the deveh 

 species and languages, given by Sir C. Lyell in ' The GeoloafT J^v)«en^is ^ > ^ 

 of the Antiquity of Man,' 1 803, chap, xxiii. /^ O < 



f£j i* ^*^ -5 



LIBRARY 



