66 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Jan. 23, 1885. 



but like the living creatures of nature, language IVom its 

 first appearance was endowed with all its essential parts." * 

 Now the whole theory of evolution is in direct contradic- 

 tion to that of M. Eenan, and the class he represents, for 

 it teaches that the mind of man was gradually developed 

 through successive stages, from such a slate, for instance, 

 as we find in a sponge at the present day ; the mind 

 developing in proportion as the nervous system becomes 

 more complex. Other animals, inferior in developn)ent, 

 have, as I pointed out in my former article, a definite lan- 

 guage of sounds and signs, but as Darwin says,t " Man not 

 only usts inarticulate cries, gestures, and expressions, but 

 has invented articulate language ; if, inc'eed, the word 

 invented can be applied to a process completed by innume- 

 rable steps, half consciously made." 



In one respect only does Darwin agree with Eenan ; 

 they both allow that language did not: have its origin in 

 the wUl of man, though, indeed, long before these two repre- 

 sentative thinker-s, Turgot had said: "Languages are not the 

 work of conscious reason."! 



In point of fact, there can be very little doubt that 

 language was evolved, like everything else, from small 

 beginning?. Some primitive being, while directing the 

 attention of one of his kind to a certain object, uttered 

 some sound, which, being afterwards repeated in the 

 same connection, came to be appropriated to that oVject, 

 and it was found that the object luight, although absent, be 

 indicated by the use of that sound. This was a step in the 

 )ight direction. It was manifestly desirable that attention 

 should be drawn to the approach of an enemy while that 

 enemy was still at a distance, or that the whereabouts of 

 prey should be indicated while the prey was not within ken. 



Random action becomes voluntary action, if it is found 

 to give or continue pleasure, or to avert or lessen pain. 

 Hei.ce the sound uttered at random, but found to be useful 

 in communicating a thought, is perpetuated as what we 

 fchculd now call a word, and a multitude of such makes up 

 a p imitive language. 



in another work Darwin says : — "From the fundamental 

 difltrences between certain languages, philologists have 

 inferred that when man first became widely diffused he 

 was not a speaking animal ; but it may be suspected that 

 languages far less i)erfect than any now spoken might have 

 been used, and yet left no traces on subsequent and more 

 highly-developed tongues. Without the use of some 

 language, however impeifect, it appears doubtful whether 

 man's intellect could have risen to the standard implied by 

 his dominant position at an early period. "§ 



With his wonderful insight into the ways of nature, 

 Darwin has iu the suagestiocs of the above passage, pro- 

 bably hapjiened upon the true state of the case, and doubt- 

 less at first all communication was as among other gregarious 

 animals, by gestures and cries warning of danger, or to 

 gather together for attiick. 



Weak animals find strength in numbers, and become 

 gregaiiuus on a sort of extension of the principle 

 that "two heads are bttter than one." Thus, herds of 

 different creatures will, as it were, post sentinels so that 

 the 1 ody of the herd may feed in safety, confident that a 

 timely alarm will be given iu case of the approach of an 

 enemy. 



In the same way we find that defenceless animals are 

 proportionately cunning, the instinct of self-preservation 

 sharpening their mental powers. Travellers in countries 



* " De rOrigine du Langage," p. 'JO. 

 t " Expression of the Emotion.s," p. CO. 



X " Le.1 Langagcs ne Eont point I'ccuvre d'nno raison presente a 

 eile-meme." 



§ " Descent of Man," Vol. II. pp. 231-5. Ed. 1872. 



where before their time man was unknown, have found the 

 small game and birds so tame that they could almost catch 

 them in their hands, but after a few years', or even months* 

 experience of peifidious man and his shot-gun, they become 

 as shy as the ordinary sportsman generally finds his prey, 

 that is to say, they have learnt where the danger lies and 

 devised means for avoiding it. 



Now, when in the course of evolution a being was de- 

 veloped bearing the physical attributes of man, he must 

 have been indeed a weak and defenceless creature compared 

 with those animals by which he was surrounded, and who 

 hungered for his blood. There is some reason to believe 

 that primitive man was not nearly so large or powerful as 

 the ordinary savage of the present day, who, even with his 

 superior advaijtages, would, without cunning, stand but a 

 poor chance in the struggle for existence. 



The primitive man must have been beset on all sides 

 by dangers and difficulties. He had neither the powers 

 otfensive nor defensive possessed by his neighbours. He 

 had neither the swiftness of the weaker kinds to escape, 

 nor of the stronger to pursue ; and he was without the 

 i.atural weapons with which other animals were provided. 

 His only chance lay in the development of his n:ental 

 faculties; without cunning he must certainly have perished, 

 as hundreds of other weak species have probably done, and 

 left "not a wrack behind." 



This being so, his mental powers were stimulated by the 

 instinct of self-preservation common to all creatures, and 

 like other weak animals he formed an ofTensive and defen- 

 sive alliance with others of his kind. 



Such an alliance rendered necessary some means of com- 

 munication between the allies, and there is every reason to 

 believe that this necessity, if not the mother, was at any 

 rate the ancestres.", of articulate speech, which was thus 

 only one of those phenomena of mental evolution that have 

 placed him in the dominant position which he now occupies 

 with regard to other creatures. 



Man's mind was developed by the struggle for existence, 

 iu which it had to contend against two great difficulties, 

 that of getting food for the man, and of saving him from 

 becoming the food of other animals ; without this develop- 

 ment man would have disappeared in the course of 

 disrestion. 



MANNBEB AND CUSTOMS IN 

 AMERICA. 



Bv Richard A. Proctoe. 



ENGLISHMEN are apt to make the same sort of 

 mistake about American manners and customs as I 

 have already suggested* that we are apt to fall into 

 in re^gard to the gambling spirit there. Just as poker- 

 j)layers are more conspicuous features in America than the 

 corresponding classes of gambling folk in England, so the 

 classes among whom solecisms in manner may be expected 

 come much more under our notice in America than in our 

 own country. It by no means follows they are more 

 numerous. On the contrary, there is every reason to 

 think that they are much less numerous there than here. 

 At a railway dining-room on the long American lints, and 

 at the table of the solitary hotel in some small Western 

 town, all c'asses meet at meals : can it be wondered at if 

 peculiarities of manner, such as are never seen in English 

 " first-class refreshment-rooms," should at times be noticed 1 

 If an Englishmen really limited his attention to what 

 is general as well as novel to him, he would be chiefly 



* See Knowleiige, No. 165. 



