t'4.3 



flection and experience, so is language also. It is a 

 mistake to imagine that the power of speech is possessed 

 by man alone, and that his language differs altogether 

 from the cries and signals of the lower animals, for such 

 is not the case. Many animals possess the faculty of 

 speech, and human language differs from that of the 

 lower animals only in its degree of development, and 

 in no sense in its origin. Probably all language origi- 

 nated in interjection, or the " instinctive expression of 

 the subjective impressions derived from external nature," 

 as Mr. Farrar puts it. And, just as the reflective powers 

 of the race were developed and shone more brilliantly 

 as each stage in the evolutionary march of intellect 

 was passed, so did language pass from the simple mono- 

 syllabic cries to the complex dialects of modern civilisa- 

 tion ; and it is worthy of notice that, at the present day, 

 or at any rate very recently, there were races of savage 

 men inhabiting this earth who possessed no language at 

 all, and could not, on account of their mode of living, 

 be placed on a higher intellectual level than the higher 

 apes ; while we have the authority of the leading philolo- 

 gists of the times in support of the fact that the mono- 

 syllabic cries of some of the lower human tribes are 

 quite within the grasp of the ape's voice. 



Human beings have been discovered in wild and 

 hitherto unexplored regions who have not the remotest 

 idea of what we should term civilisation. They lead a 

 wandering and useless life, sleeping at nights, not in huts, 

 nor in caves, but squatting among the branches of tall 

 trees, where they are placed out of the reach of savage 

 animals. They do not appear capable of expressing 

 their thoughts in sentences, but make use of exclamatory 

 grunts, which serve the purposes of speech quite suffi- 

 ciently for their limited requirements ; and their general 

 appearance approaches to a remarkable extent that of 

 the higher apes, in that they are almost completely 

 covered with hair, possess a dirty brown skin, short legs,, 

 long arms, and full abdomens, can pick up stones, sticks, 

 etc., with their toes as well as their fingers, and show 

 few if any signs of intellectual powers. Let any one 

 visit the Zoological Gardens, in London, and carefully 

 observe the apes exhibited there, and then say whether 



