AMERICAN ASSOCIA TION FOR THE AD VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 305 



.Koords, the Bushmen of Africa, the Rijangs and Lelongs of Sumatra, and the 

 AustraHans. The result is that the so-called sign language of Indians is not, prop- 

 erly speaking, one language, but that it and the gesture systems of the deaf mutes 

 and of all peoples constitute together one language, the gesture language of man- 

 kind, of which each system is a dialect. The generic conformity is obvious, 

 while the occasion of specific varieties can be readily understood. 



The most interesting light in which Indians, as other lower tribes of men, 

 are to be regarded is in their present representation of the stage of evolution once 

 passed through by our ancestors. Their signs, as well as their myths and cus- 

 toms, form a part of the paleontology of humanity. Their picture writings are 

 now translated by working on the hypothesis that their rude form of graphic 

 representation, when at the same time a system of idiographic gesture signs pre- 

 vailed, would probably have been connected with the latter; traces of the signs 

 now used by the Indians are also found in the idiographic pictures of the Egyp- 

 tian, Chinese and Aztec characters. 



From the records of the ancient classic authors and also from the figures on 

 Etruscan vases and Herculanean bronzes and other forms of Archaic art, it is 

 certain that a system of gesture language is of great antiquity. Later Quintilian 

 gave elaborate rules for gesture which are specially notable for the significant dis- 

 position of the fingers still prevailing in Naples. The ancient and modern pan- 

 tomimes were discussed, and also the gestures of speaking actors in the theaters, 

 the latter being seldom actually significant or self-interpreting even in the ex- 

 pression of strong emotion. The same scenic gesture must apply to many di- 

 verse conditions of fact. Its fitness consists in being the same which the hearer 

 of the expository words would spontaneously assume if yielding to the same 

 emotions, and which, therefore, by association tends to induce sympathetic 

 yielding. But the facts themselves depend upon the words uttered. A true 

 sign language would express the exact circumstances without any exhibition of 

 the general emotion appropriate to them. 



This was shown to be in successful use in cases cited by travelers skilled in 

 it, and its powers were compared Avith those of speech. It finds actually in na- 

 ture an image by which any person can express his thoughts and wishes on the 

 most needful subjects to any other person. Merely emotional sounds may cor- 

 respond with merely emotional gestures, but whether with or without them would 

 be useless for the explicit communication of facts and opinions by which signs 

 themselves are capable. Notwithsta.nding frequent denials, they do possess ab- 

 stract ideas. The rapidity of communication is very great, and can approach to 

 that of thought. Oral speech is not conventional, and with the similar develop- 

 ment of sign language conventional expressions could be made with hands and 

 body more quickly than with the vocal organs, because more organs could be 

 worked at once. 



But such rapidity is only obtained by a system of preconcerted abbreviations 

 and by the adoption of absolute forms, thus sacrificing self-interpretation and 

 naturalness. 



