272 THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN REASON. 



do find." But "what we do find" is exactly what our 

 combined intellectual and corporeal nature would lead 

 us to expect, and is absolutely fatal to the doctrine of 

 the common nature of man and brute. As we have 

 before said, * the very existence of " metaphor " is proof 

 positive of the intellectual nature and activity of the 

 human mind. Had not the intellect the power of 

 apprehending through sense, and expressing by sensible 

 signs, things which are beyond sense, metaphor could 

 not exist. Neither could it exist if thought arose from 

 language and followed it, instead of the opposite. 



It is precisely because speech is too narrow for 

 thought, and because words are too few to convey the 

 ideas of the mind, that metaphor exists. It is interest- 

 ing to note that figurative, metaphorical language is 

 natural to, and especially abundant amongst, various 

 uncultured tribes. Mr. Romanes says,t "The whole 

 history of language, down to our own day, is full of 

 examples of the reduction of physical terms and 

 phrases to the expression of non-physical conceptions 

 and relations." We say, not the " reduction',' but the 

 ^^ elevation''' of such terms; and how could such eleva- 

 tions take place if " names " preceded " thoughts " } 



With truth does Mr. Romanes say that metaphor is 

 universal, and he quotes Carlyle as making the just 

 remark, "An unmetaphorical style you shall seek in 

 vain, for is not your very attention a stretching to ? " 

 The sensuous element in language does not show that 

 the earliest ideas were themselves sensuous, but rather 

 the wonderful spontaneity of the human intellect, 

 * See above, p. 233. . t PP. 343, 344- 



