FIFTH DAY'S SITTING. 105 



confined to man. All this, your Lordship will at once 

 perceive, falls far short of the mark. He then gives us a 

 dissertation on the origin of articulate language ; tells us 

 that " some early progenitor of man probably used his voice 

 largely, as does one of the gibbon-apes of the present day, 

 in producing musical cadences ;" that "monkeys certainly 

 understand much tint is said to them by man," and " utter 

 signal cries of danger- to their fellows ;" and, in this, he 

 finds what would have been " a first step in the formation 

 of a language." (Vol. i. pp. 54-57.) 



Lord C. What are Mr. Darwin's own words on this 

 point ? 



Darwin. " As monkeys in a state of nature," my Lord, 

 " utter signal cries of danger to their fellows, it does not 

 appear altogether incredible that some unusually wise ape- 

 like animal should have thought of imitating the growl of 

 a beast of prey, so as to indicate to his fellow monkeys the 

 nature of the expected danger. And this would have been 

 a first step in the formation of a language." (Vol. i. p. 57.) 



Homo. It is rather singular, my Lord, that this " unusu- 

 ally wise ape-like animal," which Mr. Darwin cannot prove 

 ever existed, but to which, nevertheless, the thought oc- 

 curred of imitating the growl of a beast of prey, to warn 

 his fellow monkeys of danger, should not have thought 

 also of imitating the hiss of the serpent, to intimate to them 

 the proximity of that- reptile, of which, according to Mr. 

 Darwin, monkeys have an instinctive dread. The organs 

 of an ape are as fit for hissing as for growling. 



Darwin. " As the voice," my Lord, " was used more and 

 more, the vocal organs would have been strengthened and 

 perfected through the principle of the inherited effects of 

 use ; and this would have reacted on the power of speech. 

 But the relation between the continued use of language, 



H 



