CHAP. IV.] LANGUAGE. 89 



of prey, so as to indicate to his fellow monkeys the nature of the 

 expected danger. And this would have been a first step in the forma 

 tion of a language.&quot; Vol. i. p. 56. 



But the question, not whether it is incredible, but whether 

 there are any data whatever to warrant such a suppo 

 sition. Mr. Darwin brings forward none : we suspect none 

 could be brought forward. 



It is then rational language the external manifestation, 

 whether by sound or gesture, of general conceptions which 

 has to be considered. We have to ascertain whether or 

 not its existence is, as far as the evidence goes, universal 

 amongst mankind; also whether the lowest forms of speech 

 discoverable are so much below the highest forms as to 

 appear transitional steps from irrational cries, and, conse 

 quently, whether there is any positive evidence for the origin 

 of speech by any process of evolution. It is not emotional 

 expressions or the manifestations of sensible impressions 

 which we have to consider, but the enunciations of distinct 

 judgments as to &quot; the what,&quot; &quot; the how,&quot; and &quot; the why,&quot; 

 whether by sound or by gesture. 



In the first place, perhaps it may be well to consider those 

 speechless human beings now existing the deaf-mutes. As 

 to these Mr. Tylor tells us : 



&quot; Even in a low state of education, the deaf-mute seems to conceive 

 general ideas, for when he invents a sign for anything he 



T -j. j. n .LI ^1 f ^1 Deaf-mutes. 



applies it to all other things of the same class, and he can 

 also form abstract ideas in a certain way, or, at least, he knows that 

 there is a quality in which snow and milk agree, and he can go on 

 adding other white things, such as the moon and whitewash, to his 

 list. He can form a proposition, for he can make us understand, and 

 we can make him understand, that this man is old, that man is 

 young. Nor does he seem incapable of reasoning in something like a 

 syllogism, even when he has no means of communicating but the 

 gesture-language ; and certainly as soon as he has learnt to read that 

 all men are mortal, John is a man, therefore John is a mortal, he will 

 show by every means of illustration in his power that he fully com 

 prehends the argument.&quot;* 



* Researches into the Early History of Mankind, p. 06. 



