REASON AND DIVERS TONGUES. 239 



M. You say, then, that the sound is in the bell, yet 

 nothing is there altogether the same as your feeling of 

 sound? 



L. That's what I say, sir. 



M. You must mean, then, that the cause of the 

 sound is in the bell, and that that cause is like, but not 

 altogether the same as, your feeling of sound ? 



L, Yes, sir, that's just it ; but the air has something 

 to do with it too. 



It seems to us that this rustic would be recognized by 

 Aristotle as perfectly right in his philosophy of sound, 

 and we consider that he is far ahead of Berkeley, Kant, or 

 any other Idealist,* who has learnt s'egarer avec mHhode, 



As to the use of onomatopoeia, Mr. Romanes very 

 reasonably says that such words may easily become so 

 disguised as to lose all trace of their mode of origin. 



Noting facts as to a grandchild of the late Mr. 

 Darwin, he tells us,! " The child, who was just begin- 

 ning to speak, called a duck 'quack,' and by special 

 association it also called water ' quack.' " It next ex- 

 tended the term to birds, insects, and fluids, and ulti- 

 mately to coins, because it had seen an eagle on a 

 French sou. These latter applications would truly show 

 no trace of onomatopoeia, but another remark is also to be 

 noted. If this word " quack " was found amongst roots, 

 how its real meaning would probably be underestimated ! 



The different onomatopoetic words which are used 

 in different languages to denote the same thing, show 



* As to Idealism, see "On Truth," Section II., and as to Sound 

 and Idealism, see the same, pp. 114-118. 

 t p. 283. 



