488 PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN THE CENTURY. 



larynx and bladder. We look back to the first 

 sentence as a subtle mixture of cry and gesture. 

 It may seem that a great gulf is fixed between the 

 first jabbering sentence and the orations of Demos- 

 thenes, but the students of phonesis and language 

 have detected many a hint of the bridge. The child 

 remains as a perpetual illustration, whose signifi- 

 cance is by no means exhausted. 



That there are great difiiculties in accounting for 

 the evolution of language must be frankly admitted, 

 but the enquiry is still young. We must remember 

 the importance of sociality; the possible influence 

 of periods of enforced leisure (which seem to have 

 been important in the evolution of bird-song) ; the 

 excitements of the chase, of the conflict, of the court- 

 ship; the imitative instinct and the hints to inven- 

 tion afforded by the many voices of nature which 

 fell upon the ear of primitive man ; and many other 

 considerations. 



Apart from the problem of its origin and evolu- 

 tion, language is of great interest to anthropolo- 

 gists as an index of mental character in different 

 races and as a possible aid in their classification. 

 We are no longer liable to the error of making it the 

 sole criterion of race, as some of the earlier philolo- 

 gists maintained in their enthusiasm, but the oppo- 

 site error of rejecting the philologist^s assistance 

 must be a^voided. Although data are still few, there 

 seems evidence of structural differences in the 

 organs of speech in different races, and there is no 

 doubt as to the value of the old " shibboleth '' test 

 which depends on the auditory as well as on the vocal 

 organs. The value of the linguistic test is increased 

 by the remarkable fact that while peoples mix, lan- 

 guages never do (apart from word-borrowing). The 



