DREAMS AND ILLUSIONS. 209 



stringed instruments which accompanied the songs, 

 after the specification of the modes of speech was so 

 far advanced as to distinguish singing which had 

 already become an art from the daily necessity of 

 reciprocal communication in words. In this research 

 we must proceed step by step, aided by minute 

 observation, lest we should accept an hypothesis 

 which does not correspond with the facts. 



Not only man, but some animals among others 

 a species of mouse found in South Africa naturally 

 uses his limbs to moderate or strengthen the light of 

 vision. This mouse was observed to shade its eyes 

 with its forepaws in order to look at some distant 

 object under a blazing sun, as we should do in like 

 conditions. In man, whose arms and hands are 

 readily adapted to this primitive art, the habit is 

 common, even among the rudest savages. Putting 

 sight out of the question that we may consider hear- 

 ing, which is our present theme, reflex movements, 

 either casual or habitual, have certainly induced 

 primitive men to place their hands on the mouth, 

 either so as to suppress the sound or to augment it 

 by using both hands as a kind of shell. It is easy to 

 imagine the use of shells or other hollow objects as a 

 vehicle of sound, either for amusement or some other 

 cause, and these rude instruments might serve as the 

 first step to the invention of wind instruments. Re- 

 flection on these spontaneous experiments would 

 readily lead to the search for some mode of prolong- 



