Art and Science 



walking on the table, he explained that I had 

 gone away. My friend, however, wanted to 

 know how long I had been gone, so he pulled 

 out his watch and looked inquiringly. The 

 man at once slapped himself on the back, and 

 held up the five fingers of one hand, to say 

 it was five minutes ago. All this was done 

 as rapidly as though it had been said in words ; 

 and my friend, who knew the man well, under- 

 stood without a moment's hesitation. Are 

 we to say that this man had no thought, nor 

 reason, nor language, merely because he had 

 not a single word of any kind in his head, 

 which I am assured he had not ; for, as I have 

 said, he could not speak with his fingers ? Is 

 it possible to deny that a dialogue an intel- 

 ligent conversation had passed between the 

 two men ? And if conversation, then surely 

 it is technical and pedantic to deny that 

 all the essential elements of language were 

 present. The signs and tokens used by this 

 poor fellow were as rude an instrument of 

 expression, in comparison with ordinary lan- 

 guage, as going on one's hands and knees is 



in comparison with walking, or as walking 



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