THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE. 161 



is of scientific value. The mere fact that a deaf man 

 is also a dumb man is almost a final answer to the 

 affirmation that the power of speech is an original and 

 intuitive faculty of Man. If it were so, there is no 

 reason why a deaf man should not speak. The vocal 

 apparatus in his case is complete ; all that is required 

 to make him utter a definite sound is to hear one. 

 When he hears one, but not till then, he can imitate it. 

 Language, so far as the testimony of the deaf-mute 

 goes, is clearly a matter of imitation. Unable to attain 

 the second stage of Language — words — he has to con- 

 tent himself with the first — signs. And this Language 

 he has evolved to its last perfection. It shows how 

 little the mere utterance of words has to do with Lan- 

 guage, that the deaf-mute is able to converse on every- 

 day subjects almost as perfectly as those who can 

 speak. The permutations and combinations that can 

 be produced with ten pliable fingers, or with the vary- 

 ing expressions of the muscles of the face, are endless, 

 and everything that he cares to know can be uttered or 

 translated to him by motion, gesture, and grimace. 

 To give an idea how far gestures can be made to do the 

 work of spoken words, the signs may be described in 

 which a deaf-and-dumb man once told a child's story in 

 presence of Mr. Tylor. " He began by moving his 

 hand, palm down, about a yard from the ground, as we 

 do to show the height of a child — this meant that it 

 was a child he was thinking of. Then he tied an 

 imaginary pair of bonnet-strings under his chin (his 

 usual sign for female), to make it understood that the 

 child was a little girl. The child's mother was then 

 brought on the scene in a similar way. She beckons to 

 the child and gives her twopence, these being indicated 

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