THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE 67 



nected. If language has developed from small begin- 

 nings, it follows as a corollary that the power of 

 thinking has been a matter of equally slow develop- 

 ment, since the thinking cannot transcend the speech. 

 If it is true that in the history of the race language 

 has progressed from a condition where words simply 

 expressed crude general ideas, it is equally true that 

 the thinking powers of man have passed through a 

 corresponding stage. If there ever was a time when 

 the human race communicated simply by sentence 

 words and gestures, it follows that there was a time 

 when human mental processes were on a par with 

 this language. In other words, there is no real break 

 between the mental actions of animals and the more 

 complex thinking of man. There is a great differ- 

 ence, indeed, between the mental processes of ani- 

 mals and of man ; there is an equal difference between 

 the mental processes of the babe and the man who 

 grows from the babe. But just as there is no break 

 between the mind of the child and the adult, so there 

 seems no break between the mental actions of the 

 highly developed animal and the human being. In 

 both cases there has been an orderly sequence of 

 development. In one respect there is a difference. 

 The child does develop higher mental powers, while 

 the animal never does. 



Why Has Man Alone Developed Language? — After all 

 has been said the fact remains that man alone has 

 developed language, and in him alone do the mental 

 activities pass from the rudimentary condition of 

 the child or the animal and reach a higher plane. 

 The child and the animal both lack developed mental 

 powers, but only the child later develops them. 

 Here, after all, is the radical difference between man 



