Intelligence and Speech. 101 



I. What is the real relation between human speech 

 and human intelligence? True it is, that speech is a 

 most useful instrument to quicken and develop intel- 

 lectual culture in the individual and in entire nations. 

 Our daily experience proves this to be the case. It 

 may be gathered from the study of child-life, and it is 

 confirmed by the history of nations. The introduction 

 of graphic language is, so to say, the first step towards 

 a higher degree of cultural development. Speech ob- 

 viously facilitates abstract thought. For the very fact 

 that most of our representations and notions are ac- 

 quired through verbal and graphic signs, renders the 

 activity of the understanding, the comparison of ideas 

 and logical deductions far more simple and safe. 

 Again, when a child of six years is taught to read, the 

 knowledge of the word often precedes that of the con- 

 cept. The latter must first be explained by the teacher 

 and brought home to the child which, without some 

 previous knowledge, cannot even grasp the explanation, 

 nor the meaning of words which are as yet unknown. 

 The causal relation between speech and intelligence is, 

 therefore, the very opposite of the view favored by 

 Emery : Speech is not the cause of the high intelligence 

 of man, but his high intelligence is the cause of speech. 

 Speech is only the condition of the normal development 

 of the human understanding in the individual as well as 

 with entire nations. Intelligence, on the other hand, is 

 the cause of speech and not merely its condition. A 

 simple analysis of any sentence, as: "The leaves are 

 green," will clearly prove the truth of this position. In 

 this sentence "green" is affirmed as predicate to the 

 subject "leaf." Now, this oral assertion presuppose 



