i68 evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



of words, and the two augment and enrich each other. We 

 have already seen that the power to symboKze, to abstract, 

 is not exclusive with man; but a true capacity for language 

 in other animals is open to question. 



There are many cases in nature where the sounds emitted 

 by various animals would seem to have at least vague quali- 

 ties of speech. Certainly, the alarm cries of birds and beasts 

 alike carry a direct and vivid message to the hearers, as do 

 mating cries and many others. The language extremists, 

 however, rule these out on the basis that they do not convey 

 objective information; they submit that the bird does not 

 call to his mate, "I'll meet you under the clock, my love!" It 

 has been claimed until recently that no subhuman animal 

 even has an impulse to convey real information to its fel- 

 lows. These claims, now that the language of bees has been 

 interpreted, look ridiculous. They stem from the over- 

 anxiety of some to keep man absolutely apart. If language is 

 expected to convey not only subjective emotions, but also 

 concrete, direct information, then the bee has a language 

 (see Chap. 11). So also, it will be found in time, do many 

 other animals, and probably the next to appear in the litera- 

 ture on subhuman languages will be the ant. Most anthro- 

 pologists will freely admit that there is enough subhuman 

 anticipation of both speech and culture to more than fore- 

 shadow the event when it arrives in the human. 



It is now almost certain that man never had a common 

 language, but that oral communication arose in several places 

 independently during the long isolation of the races. It is 

 thought that some sort of sign language preceded the spoken 

 word or, at least, was used conjointly in the communications 

 of early man. In America all Indians were able to under- 

 stand a common sign language of great antiquity. Sir Arthur 

 Evans thought that it must have preceded speech and that 

 the latter arose in isolated regions long after the end of the 

 migrations that peopled the Americas. Palaeolithic man, if 

 we are to judge by the cave wall drawings he left us, had a 



