220 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



tions of speech and writing are the ideas themselves 

 that find expression in the one way or the other, or 

 even by the still more primitive use of signs and ges- 

 tures. But it is not with these ultimate elements of 

 thought that we are now concerned; our task is to 

 learn, first, what evidences are discoverable which show 

 that the property of human language in general has 

 originated by evolution, and then, in the second place, 

 to perceive how this development proves an evolution 

 of one group of ultimate ideas, namely, human concepts 

 of the modal value of words and symbols as expressions 

 of ideas themselves. 



A simple common-sense treatment of obvious facts 

 will greatly facilitate our progress. We know very well 

 that the EngHsh we speak to-day differs in many ways 

 from the language of Elizabethan times, and that the 

 former is a direct descendant of the other. The latter, 

 in turn, was a product of Norman French and Anglo- 

 Saxon, — a combination of certain elements of both, 

 but identical with neither of its immediate parents. 

 The Saxon tongue itself has a history that leads back 

 to King Alfred's time and earlier. Thus we are already 

 aware of the fact that our speech has truly evolved, 

 like the physical structure of the men who employ it ; 

 and we know, too, how readily new words are adopted 

 into current English, like tabu from Polynesia, or garage 

 from the French, showing that language is even now 

 in process of evolution. 



The sounds that make up spoken words can be 

 resolved into a single element with its modifications; 

 this basic element is the brute-like call or shout made 

 with the mouth and throat opened wide — a sound we 



