THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE 235 



speech into the world was delayed, not because the 

 possibilities of it were not in Nature, but because 

 the instrument was not quite ready. Then the 

 instrument came, and Man spoke. The develop- 

 ment of the organ and the development of the 

 function went on together, arrived together, were 

 perfected together. What delayed the gesture- 

 language of the telegraph was not that electricity 

 was not in Nature, but the want of the instrument. 

 When that came, the gesture-language came, and 

 both were perfected together. What delayed the 

 telephone was not that its principle was not in 

 Nature, but that the instrument was not ready. 

 What now delays its absolute victory of space is 

 not that space cannot be bridged, but that it is not 

 ready. May it not be that that which delays the 

 power to transport and drive one's thought as 

 thought to whatever spot one wills, is not the fact 

 that the possibility is withheld by Nature, but that 

 the hour is not quite come — that the instrument is 

 not yet fully ripe? Are there no signs, is the 

 feeling after it no sign, are there not even now 

 some facts, to warrant us in treating it, after all 

 that Evolution has given us, as a still possible gift 

 to the human race? What strikes one most in 

 running the eye up this graduated ascent is that 

 the movement is in the direction of what one can 



