1890 SALLY 259 



stood, dog and Damara, the comparison reflected no 

 great honour on the man.' (Galton, loc. cit.) But 

 the case, of course, is quite otherwise when, in virtue 

 of the greatly superior development of the sign-mak- 

 ing faculty in man, the savage is enabled to employ 

 the intellectual artifice of separate notation, whereby 

 he attains the conception of number in the abstract, 

 and so lays the foundation of mathematical science. 

 Now, so far as I am aware, there is no trustworthy 

 evidence of any race of savages who are without any 

 idea of separate notation. Whether the system of 

 notation be digital only, or likewise verbal, is, psycho- 

 logically speaking, of comparatively little moment. 

 For it is historically certain that notation begins by 

 using the fingers, and how far any particular tribe 

 may have advanced in the direction of naming their 

 numbers is a question which ought never to be con- 

 fused with that as to whether the tribe can ' count,' 

 i.e. notate. 



GEORGE J. KOMANES. 



Geanies, Ross-shire. 



a 2 



