194 STUDIES IN LIFE AND SEA T SE. 



IX. 



THE LAWS OF SPEECH. 



AMONGST the many and diverse problems which the modern ten- 

 dencies of science have evolved, few possess for us a deeper interest 

 than those which deal with the origin and beginnings of language. 

 It is little to be wondered at that in early days the power of "wed- 

 ding thought to speech," to parody the Laureate's well-known ex- 

 pression, should be regarded as, of all gifts, that for which man was 

 directly indebted to the goodness of the gods. Nor is it a subject 

 for surprise to find the legendary punishment for presumptive enter- 

 prise at Babel taking the form of a confusion of tongues thus 

 rendering impossible the further prosecution of that famous erection. 

 Of late years, the problem concerning the beginnings of speech has 

 acquired a special importance from its obvious relationship to other 

 questions intimately connected with the early conditions of mankind. 

 There exists hardly a single phase of the evolution hypothesis, as 

 applied to the explanation of humanity's ways and life, which does not 

 in some fashion or other touch upon the origin of speech and the be- 

 ginnings of that faculty whereby man has learned to express the ideas 

 of his mind or, contrariwise, as some philosophers would insist, to 

 conceal his thoughts. To the moral philosopher, the power of speech 

 is the central pivot on which man's personality hangs. His opinion 

 of speech as related to thought is usually that of Plutarch, who, in 

 the "Life of Themistocles," tells us that "speech is like cloth of Arras, 

 opened and put abroad, whereby the imagery doth appear in figure ; 

 whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs." It is not our intention 

 in the present paper to discuss those larger issues which arise from 

 the consideration of the later developments of speech as related to 

 the progress of human kind. Our special field of study lies rather in 

 the direction of the first beginnings of language, and in its early growth 

 and origin as viewed from the biological standpoint. We need 

 concern ourselves, therefore, with little speculation of purely meta- 

 physical kind, taking our stand primarily within the domain of life- 

 science, where, indeed, all legitimate research into man's early 

 history may be said to begin. 



Through language, then, man maintains his personality, and 

 provides for the extension of his own influence, whilst thuswise he 

 also reciprocates the influence of others. This power of communi- 

 cating with his fellows constitutes the basis of the language-faculty, 



