Chap. XI. AND NEGATION. 273 



might likewise come to serve as signs of negation. Mr. 

 "Wedgwood remarks on this subject/ 8 that " when the 

 voice is exerted with closed teeth or lips, it produces the 

 sound of the letter n or m. Hence we may account for 

 the use of the particle ne to signify negation, and possi- 

 bly also of the Greek fxrj in the same sense." 



That these signs are innate or instinctive, at least 

 with Anglo-Saxons, is rendered, highly probable by the 

 blind and deaf Laura Bridgman " constantly accom- 

 panying her yes with the common affirmative nod, and 

 her no with our negative shake of the head." Had not 

 Mr. Lieber stated to the contrary, 19 I should have imag- 

 ined that these gestures might have been acquired or 

 learnt by her, considering her wonderful sense of touch 

 and appreciation of the movements of others. "With 

 microcephalous idiots, who are so degraded that they 

 never learn to speak, one of them is described by Vogt, 20 

 as answering, when asked whether he wished for more 

 food or drink, by inclining or shaking his head. Schmalz, 

 in his remarkable dissertation on the education of the 

 deaf and dumb, as well as of children raised only one 

 degree above idiotcy, assumes that they can always both 

 make and understand the common signs of affirmation 

 and negation. 21 



Nevertheless if we look to the various races of man, 

 these signs are not so universally employed as I should 

 have expected; yet they seem too general to be ranked 

 as altogether conventional or artificial. My informants 

 assert that both signs are used by the Malays, by the 

 natives of Ceylon, the Chinese, the negroes of the Guinea 



18 ' On the Origin of Language,' 1866, p. 91. 



19 'On the Vocal Sounds of L. Bridgman; ' Smithsonian 

 Contributions, 1851, vol. ii. p. 11. 



20 ' Memoire sur les Microcephales,' 1867, p. 27. 



21 Quoted by Tylor, ' Early History of Mankind,' 2nd 

 edit. 1870, p. 38. 



