REASON AND PRIMITIVE MAN 287 



tentots, which Prof. Sayce is quoted * as observing " still 

 survive to show us how the utterances of speechless 

 man could be made to embody and convey thought." 

 It could, of course, convey it fast enough if thought was 

 there to be conveyed ; but no " clicking " could ever 

 originate and introduce it. The Hottentot word for the 

 moon is said to be " clicks," followed by the monosyllable 

 '"'' Khdpy But why is this not as truly conceptual a 

 name for the moon as either Luna or SeXtJvtj ? 



Mr. Romanes makes use of Time as a very potent 

 magician to effect the transformations his hypothesis 

 needs. Speaking of his hypothetical speechless-man, 

 he says, t " I believe this most interesting creature 

 probably lived for an inconceivably [!] long time before 

 his faculty of articulate sign-making had developed 

 sufficiently far to begin to starve out the more primitive 

 and more natural systems ; and I believe that even 

 after this starving-out process did begin, another incon- 

 ceivable [!] lapse of time must have been required for 

 such progress to have eventually transformed Homo 

 alalus into Homo sapiens!' Again, he tells us % that the 

 epoch during which sentence - words prevailed was 

 probably immense ; and, again, § " The probability cer- 

 tainly is that immense [!] intervals of time would have 

 been consumed in the passage through these various 

 grades of mental evolution ; " and yet again, li " It was 

 not until, after aeons of ages [!] had elapsed that any 

 pronouns arose as specially indicative of the first 

 person." In fact, however. Time could do absolutely 



* p. 374- + P- 379- X P- 385- 



§ p. 386. II p. Z^l' 



