572 The Descent of Man. Part III. 



" a chorus in perfect unison." 37 Even monkeys express strong 

 feelings in different tones— anger and impatience by low, — fear 

 and pain by high notes. 38 The sensations and ideas thus 

 excited in us by music, or expressed by the cadences of oratory, 

 appear from their vagueness, yet depth, like mental reversions 

 to the emotions and thoughts of a long-past age. 



All these facts with respect to music and impassioned speech 

 become intelligible to a certain extent, if we may assume that 

 musical tones and rhythm were used by our half-human an- 

 cestors, during the season of courtship, when animals of all kinds 

 are excited not only by love, but by the strong passions of 

 jealousy, rivalry, and triumph. From the deeply-laid principle of 

 inherited associations, musical tones in this case would be likely 

 to call up vaguely and indefinitely the strong emotions of a long- 

 past age. As we have every reason to suppose that articulate 

 speech is one of the latest, as it certainly is the highest, of the 

 arts acquired by man, and as the instinctive power of producing 

 musical notes and rhythms is developed low down in the animal 

 series, it w r ould be altogether opposed to the principle of evolution, 

 if we were to admit that man's musical capacity has been deve- 

 loped from the tones used in impassioned speech. "We must 

 suppose that the rhythms and cadences of oratory are derived 

 from previously developed musical powers. 39 We can thus 

 understand how it is that music, dancing, song, and poetry are 

 such very ancient arts. We may go even further than this, 

 and, as remarked in a former chapter, believe that musical sounds 

 afforded one of the bases for the development of language. 40 



37 Winwood Reade, 'The Martyr- the opposite sex. Thus musical 

 dom of Man,' 1872, p. 441, and tones became firmly associated with 

 ' African Sketch Book,' 1873, vol. ii. some of the strongest passions an 

 p. 313. animal is capable of feeling, and are 



38 Rengger, ' Saugethiere von consequently used instinctively, or 

 Paraguay,' s. 49. through association, when strong 



89 See the very interesting dis- emotions are expressed in speech, 

 cussion on the ' Origin and Function Mr. Spencer does not offer any 

 of Music,' by Mr. Herbert Spencer, satisfactory explanation, nor can I, 

 in his collected ' Essays,' 1858, p. why high or deep notes should be 

 359. Mr. Spencer comes to an ex- expressive, both with man and the 

 actly opposite conclusion to that at lower animals, of certain emotions, 

 which I have arrived. He con- Mr. Spencer gives also an in- 

 cludes, as did Diderot formerly, that teresting discussion on the relations 

 the cadences used in emotional between poetry, recitative, and song, 

 speech afford the foundation from 40 I find in Lord Monboddo's 

 which music has been developed; ' Origin of Language,' vol. i. (1774), 

 whilst I conclude that musical notes p. 469, that Dr. Blacklock likewise 

 and rhythm were first acquired by thought "that the first language 

 the male or female progenitors of " among men was music, and that 

 mankind for the sake of charming " before our ideas were expressed dt 



