PRIMEVAL LANGUAGES. 327 



teeth ; their hair woolly ; the colour of their skin dark, of 

 a brownish tint. The hair covering the whole body was 

 probably thicker than in any of the still living human 

 species ; their arms comparatively longer and stronger ; their 

 legs, on the other hand, knock-kneed, shorter and thinner, 

 with entirely undeveloped calves; their walk but half erect. 

 This ape-like man very probably did not as yet possess 

 an actual human language, that is, an articulate language 

 of ideas. Human speech, as has already been remarked, 

 most likely originated after the divergence of the primaeval 

 species of men into different species.' The number of 

 primaeval languages is, however, considerably larger than 

 the number of the species of men above discussed. For 

 philologists have hitherto not been able to trace the four 

 primaeval languages of the Mediterranean species, namely, 

 the Basque, Caucasian, Semitic, and Indo-Germanic to a 

 single primaeval language. As little can the different Negro 

 languages be derived from a common primaeval language ; 

 hence both these species, Mediterranean and Negro, are 

 certainly polyglottonic, that is, their respective languages 

 originated after the divergence of the speechless primary 

 species into several races had already taken place. Perhaps 

 the Mongols, the Arctic and American tribes, are likewise 

 polyglottonic. The Malayan species is, however, mono- 

 glottonic ; all the Polynesian and Sundanesian dialects 

 and languages can be derived from a common, long since 

 extinct primaeval language, which is not related to any 

 other language on earth. All the other human species, 

 Nubians, Dravidas, Australians, Papuans, Hottentots, and 

 Kaffres are likewise monoglottonic. (Compare p. 333.) 

 Out of speechless primaeval man, whom we consider as 



