108 HOMO V. DARWIN. 



* 



developed from some lower form.*' (Vol. i. p. 62.) Now, the 

 question, my Lord, is, not whether languages owe their 

 origin to a separate act of creation, but whether any inferior 

 animal possesses " man's large power of connecting definite 

 sounds with definite ideas." Moreover, when Mr. Darwin 

 says that " the faculty of articulate speech, in itself," does 

 not " offer any insuperable objection to the belief that man 

 has been developed from some lower form," he is begging 

 the question in dispute. 



Lord O. Clearly so. Put in another form, the question 

 at present is, Does not man's possession of the faculty 

 of articulate speech offer an insuperable objection to the 

 belief that he has been developed from some lower 

 form? 



Homo. Mr. Darwin, my Lord, ventures to say, " we have 

 seen that it does not ;" but we have seen nothing of the 

 kind. Here again his imagination comes into play. First 

 he imagines a thing ; then he thinks he sees it ; then, that 

 others see it as well as himself. Finally, he writes it down 

 as a scientific fact, and thus builds up his hypothesis. 



'Lord C. What points come next ? 



Darwin. " Self-consciousness" my Lord ; " Indiri<luality, 

 Abstraction, General Ideas, &c. It would be useless to 

 attempt discussing these high faculties, which, according 

 to several recent writers, make the sole and complete dis- 

 tinction between man and the brutes, for hardly two authors 

 agree in their definitions. Such faculties could not have 

 been fully developed in man until his mental powers had 

 advanced to a high standard, and this implies the use of a 

 perfect language." (Vol. i. p. 62.) 



Homo. If Mr. Darwin, my Lord, had wished to discuss 

 these faculties, he might easily have found definitions which 

 would have answered the purpose. But, after giving us 



