THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE. 183 



signs to some one at the other side of the world. The 

 telegraph is a gesture-language, and is therefore only 

 a primitive stage. Man found this out and from signs 

 went on to sounds — he invented the telephone. By 

 all the traditions of Evolution this marvellous instru- 

 ment ought to be, and is even now on the verge of be- 

 ing, the vehicle of the distance-language of the future. 

 Is this the end? It is by no means lil^ely. The 

 mind is feeling about already for more perfect forms 

 of human intercourse than telegraphed or telephoned 

 words. As there was a stage in the ascent of Man at 

 which the body was laid aside as a finished product, 

 and made to give way to Mind, there may be a stage 

 in the Evolution of Mind when its material achieve- 

 ments — its body — shall be laid aside and give place 

 to a higher form of Mind. Telepathy has already 

 become a word, not a word for thought-reading or 

 muscle-reading, but a scientific word. It means " the 

 ability of one mind to impress, or to be impressed by 

 another mind otherwise than through the recognized 

 channels of sense." ^ By men of science, adepts in 

 mental analysis, aware of all sources of error, armed 

 against fraud, this subject is now being made the 

 theme of exhaustive observation. It is too soon to 

 pronounce. Practically we are in the dark. But 

 there are those in this fascinating and mysterious 

 region who tell us that the possibilities of a more in- 

 timate fellowship of man with man, and soul with 

 soul, are not to be looked upon as settled by our pres- 

 ent views of matter or of mind. However little we 

 know of it, however remote we are from it, whether it 

 ever be realized or not, telepathy is theoretically the 

 1 Phantasms of the Living, p. 6. 



