♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[Sept. 25, 1885. 





-als; 



lalling. 



For the acquisition of knowledge, especially that 

 knowledge which tends directly to the preservation of 

 the species — knowledge of the approach of a foe or prey, 

 or of a member of the same species, but opposite sex, the 

 senses of sight and hearing are the most important, and 

 it is therefore only to bo expected that the development 

 of language should take place in these directions. 



We may picture our early fathers talking with their 

 fingers as the ants do with their horns. Pointing to their 

 open mouths to show when they were hungry ; pointing 

 to a thicket and indicating-, by imitating the sound wbich 

 it makes, the kind of animal which they wished to kill 

 for dinner, and expected to find hidden there ; pointing 

 to the skj- and then drooping down the fingers to make 

 known that it was goinir to rain, an expressive sign used 

 by the deaf-and-dumb ; and if they wanted to speak of 

 the wind, stretchinir "iit tlirir arms and liringing them 

 together with a rusli i lir.'U'_'li tin- air, ] la-haps accom- 

 panying the action ^vllli a voral .shiukI imitative of that 

 made by air in ni..laai, a smind whieli has seemingly 

 ■survived in the Ma.i.-I wm-d l,.,,-nra, the noi.se made by 

 the wind, and horoni, wliieli is equivalent to English 

 , rush, <lash, swish, and other 

 otion, or motion through air. 



When speaking of the mental condition of the deaf 

 mute it was shown (XIII) that the sign is not only the 

 means of memorising the sensation produced by any 

 object or action, but also represents the object itself. 

 Thus the reproductions of expressive actions, which accom- 

 panied certain sensations, stand to mean the objects which 

 produced those sensations, as hot (of an oven, teapot, &c.) 

 is represented by the deaf mute by drawing his band 

 away quickly from the heated object (XI). Similarly, 

 the reproduction of the sound of a fowl is used to mean 

 the bird itself. Imitative or gesture language is a purely 

 descriptive one. Just as ordinary people, when convers- 

 ing, being sometimes at a loss for a word, are forced to 

 describe their meaning in a roundabout way, so gestures 

 are used by the non-speaking for the expression of thougbt. 

 A hearing child not knowing the word lox would say, 

 " Gimme ze sing zat opens and shuts," while a deaf one 

 would imitate the action of opening and shutting tbe box. 

 If the meaning is not at once clear to the person addressed 

 the speaker, whether in words or signs, endeavours, by 

 further descriptions, to make himself understood. 



Although gestures may be made to sufiice as a means 

 of communication, they form but a clumsy language at 

 best, for natural signs being to a great extent descriptive. 



a long series of them is required to express a thought 

 which may be uttered perhaps in one short word. 



Up till now I have only spoken of natural signs, but 

 owing to the great principle of least effort, which, in 

 verbal language, is the chief cause of what has been 

 termed phonetic decay, signs may also be abbreviated 

 until they become conventional. A conventional sign is 

 one that is not, like the natural sign, readily understood 

 by those not previously acquainted with it. As an 

 example of such a sign a friend informs me that he was 

 once visiting a German school for the deaf and dumb, 

 and noticed a boy make a sign as if cutting his throat. 

 He asked what was the meaning of this, and was told 

 that the sign meant Catholic, because the Catholics had 

 killed the i'rntostnnts. Otherwhere a somewhat similar 

 sign \\:i^ u- (1 ( i iiieanpt(7, from, the mode in which that 



Tlie Nnilh Ammican traders, in communicating with 

 the Indians, use many conventional signs, which are 

 understood by practice and tradition, for during years 

 of intercourse with the natives natural signs have become 

 abbreviated and changed on the principle of least exertion. 

 In some of these signs it is difficult to trace their natural 



Sayce quotes James* as having given a list of 104 

 signs used by Indians in the place of words, and adding 

 another list by Dunbar, which differs from his own in 

 several respects. According to this, darkness was indi- 

 cated by extending the hands horizontally forwards and 

 back upwards, and passing one over the other so as to 

 touch it once or twice ; a /„■;,(, by holding up the finger 

 vertically; truth, by pointing with the forefinger from 

 the mouth in a line curving a little upward, the other 

 fingers being closed ; rjood, by holding the hand hori- 

 zontally and describing a horizontal curve outward with 

 the arm ; no and 7iot by waving the hand outwards with 

 the thumb pointed upward. In Dunbar's list, on the 

 contrary, the negative is indicated by holding the hand 

 palm outward before the face, and shaking it to and fro ; 

 while fiian is shown by extending the forefinger, the rest 

 of the hand being shut, and drawing a line with it from 

 the pit of the stomach downward. 



In monasteries where signs were employed in order 

 not to break the rule ef silence, girinij was shown by 

 openii,- the hand, f.ilin.i hv sluittin<- it. fine f..rcfinger 

 laid a.T..>stl.e other nma,nt Am.//,,,-, A/m,-/;,. - was indi- 

 cated l.v plaeiirj- the liaials over tl,e . v, -, sha,,,,' by 

 placing them over the eves obliquely, da,, and daylight 

 by forming a ring with the thumb and finger, and 

 holding them before the face. This gesture seems to 

 refer to the roundness of the sun, which the North 

 American Indians represent by thus forming a circle and 

 holding it up towards the sun's track. They show the 

 time of day by extending the hand towards the east and 

 gradually raising it. 



Some of the aliiiVe si.Lcns ai'e ]iaiiir;:l, as (liose for 



finger'to indie i e im:i a l.\- tlie u] t-i-ln i ■ i.-li ion which is 

 oneof his chit f , l.ai-.eteristies. Of , -tilers, like that for 

 day and daylight the natural origin is apparent ; but the 

 orgin of others such as those for good and darkness is 

 very obscure. 



Lightning.— On Aug. 20, duriiiL- 

 dynamo in the electric-lipht plant ef 

 resulting in the extinguishing of all ti 

 of the city. 





