66 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
When we examine the languages of the world that are naturally 
acquired by hearing children, we fail to discover any natural con- 
nection between the sounds of the words and the things they repre- 
sent ; everything is arbitrary and conventional. 
Origin and Mode of Growth of a Gesture Language. 
Now, let us examine for a moment the nature of a gesture lan- 
guage and the manner in which it comes into existence. You are, 
we shall suppose, a farmer, and your little deaf boy comes run- 
ning into the house in great excitement, anxious to tell you some- 
thing he has observed. How does he do so? 
We shall imagine a case. He commences by placing his hands 
above his head, bowing Jow, and marching about the room, after 
which he points out of the window. 
You shake your head; you have not the remotest idea what he 
means. 
His face assumes an anxious look, and down he goes upon his 
hands and knees, and scrambles over the floor, touching the carpet 
with his mouth from time to time, and then again points out of the 
window. 
Still you do not comprehend. 
A look of perplexity crosses his face. What can he do to make 
you understand? At last his face lights up, as a new thought comes 
into his mind, and he touches the bridge of his nose and again points 
out of the window. 
But, alas! alas! you cannot understand. 
The little fellow is perplexed and troubled. At last, in despair, 
he takes hold of your coat and pulls you out of the door, around 
the corner, and you find your cow in the turnip patch. 
Now you begin to understand what it was he meant to say; he 
had tried to picture the cow, and to imitate its actions. The 
hands held above the head had indicated the horns ; the scrambling 
on the floor on his hands and knees had imitated the action of a 
four-footed animal, and his mouth to the carpet meant the cow 
eating the turnips. 
But how about the bridge of his nose? 4. 
You will probably observe that the cow to which he referred had 
some white spot or other mark upon the nose, and the gesture of the 
child had not indicated a cow in general, but your black cow 
“ Bessie,” with the white spot on her nose, in particular. 
