CHAP. IV.] LANGUAGE. 87 



and the murmur of a mother to her beloved child are more ex 

 pressive than any words.&quot; To this we may reply : As stimu 

 lating to the emotions yes ! But what has that to do with 

 the question of definite signs intelligently given and under 

 stood ? It does not in the least diminish the force of the dis 

 tinction that man makes use of these common instinctive signs 

 as they are the natural consequences of his being an animal, 

 which fact would naturally lead us to anticipate that he would 

 manifest phenomena of the kind common to him and to brutes, 

 as he, as all admit, shares the instincts and emotions of the 

 latter. That he has a nature in many respects like theirs is 

 perfectly compatible with his having a superior nature, of 

 which latter brutes have no germ, rudiment or vestige what 

 soever. Indeed, all the arguments and objections in Mr. 

 Darwin s second chapter may be met by the simple assertion, 

 that man being an animal has all the faculties of an animal 

 which are subserved by his rational nature ; and thus, very 

 naturally, there results an external conformity of appearance 

 though a modified one. Here, then, we have two quantities, 

 a and a -\- x ; and Mr. Darwin, seeing the two a s, but neglect 

 ing the x, represents the two quantities as equal. Even Mr. 

 Darwin himself directly adds : &quot; It is not the mere power of 

 articulation that distinguishes man from other animals ; for, as 

 every one knows, parrots can talk ; but it is his large power of 

 connecting definite sounds with definite ideas ; and this obvi 

 ously depends on the development of the mental faculties.&quot; 

 This is most true in one sense ; and yet, with the notable ex 

 ception that the distinctive character of man does not consist 

 in his having this power &quot; largely,&quot; but in his having it at all ! 

 He draws (vol. i. p. 59) a parallel between the vocal 

 organs of apes which are not used for speech, and the vocal 

 organs of certain birds which do not sing, but use such 

 organs &quot;merely for croaking.&quot; But &quot;croaking&quot; is essen 

 tially a sort of song, and means neither more nor less. But 

 no ape s cries are essentially rational speech. 



Mr. Darwin also misplaces the real point of distinction, 

 between emotional and rational language. He remarks, 



