THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE. 157 



degree, yet covering the range of its ordinary expe- 

 riences and adequate to the expression of its limited 

 mental states. 



Now what interests us with regard to these signs 

 is that they are Language. The evolution we have 

 been tracing is nothing less than the first stage in 

 the evolution of Speech. Any means by which infor- 

 mation is conveyed from one mind to another is 

 Language. And Language existed on the earth from 

 the day that animals began to live together. The 

 mere fact that animals cling to one another, live 

 together, move about together, proves that they com- 

 municate. Among the ants, perhaps the most social 

 of the lower animals, this power is so perfect that 

 they are not merely endowed with a few general signs 

 but seem able to convey information upon matters of 

 detail. Sweeping across country in great armies they 

 keep up communication throughout the whole line, 

 and succeed in conveying to one another information 

 as to the easiest routes, the presence of enemies or 

 obstacles, the proximity of food supplies, and even of 

 the numbers required on emergencies to leave the 

 main band for any special service. Every one has 

 observed ants stop when they meet one another and 

 exchange a rapid greeting by means of their waving 

 antennae, and it is possibly through these perplexing 

 organs that definite intercourse between one creature 

 and another first entered the world. The exact 

 nature of the antenna-language is not yet fathomed, 

 but the perfection to which it is carried proves that 

 the idea of language generally has existed in 

 nature from the earliest time. Among higher animals 

 various outward expressions of emotions are made, and 



