9 
is essentially the same. They all attempt to trace back conven- 
tional signs to natural signs, but they exclude from consideration 
visible gestures and confine attention only to vocal signs. 
It is evident that to mimic the mewing of a cat, in order to 
convey the idea of that animal, is as much an imitative gesture 
as going on all fours and humping the back for the same 
purpose. It is mimicry of this kind on which the Bow-Bow 
Theory relies for explanation. The same holds goods of im- 
itating a cry of fear, in order either to convey the idea of the 
emotion or of the approach of a dangerous object. This is a 
sort of expressive sign which is most primitive according to the 
Pooh-Pooh Theory. 
The Ding-Dong Theory is more subtle, and it has the 
distinction of being advocated by Professor Steinthal. Accord- 
ing to it specific kinds of objects so affected primitive man as to 
elicit from him, or, to use Max Miiller’s metaphor, to ring out of 
him, correspondingly specific utterances. The most primitive 
words would, therefore, be phonetic types rung out from the 
organism of the first man, or men, when struck with an idea. 
There is a harmony of sound and sense which does not depend on 
the imitation of one sound by another The charm of literary 
style, and especially of poetry, consists largely in the subtle 
affinity between vocal expression and the objects or activities 
expressed, which may exist apart from any resemblance of 
sounds to one another. The word zig-zag is a good illustration. 
The zig goes this way and the zag goes that way, thus describing 
a zig-zag course. . 
In discussing the objections to the imitative theory, Dean 
Farrar said:—Is there no similarity between dog and barking 
and snarling? The Icelandic doggr looks very like a growl. . . 
and in other languages the word 1s distinctly initiative... A 
name bow-bow might have been invented, yet, strange to say, we 
hardly ever find a civilised language in which a dog is so called. 
. . . Now it is at least doubtful whether the bark is a dogs 
natural utterance, and whether in its original state the dog did 
bark. . . No wild dog knows how to bark! Prichard mentions 
the conjecture that the dog’s bark originated in an attempt to 
imitate the human voice! . . . Dogs were left by Spaniards on 
Juan Fernandez, after thirty years the race had forgotten how to 
bark. : 
Mechanical means for communicating thought, 
Let us briefly consider the employment of moving objects, 
commonly known as the “ Optical Telegraph.” Its origin cannot 
be easily determined. It is said to have been used during the 
erection of the tower of Babel. Watch towers are mentioned 
as having been used by Hannibal, which he employed as signal 
stations, and the Romans had their telegraphic places. Modern 
employment of Optical Telegraphy is known under the names 
