172 THE PHILOSOPHY 



continued their fpecies. As brutes, without information or expe- 

 rience, are capable of communicating to each other, by particular 

 founds and geftures, their pleafures and pains, their wants and de- 

 fires, it would be the higheft abfurdity to fuppofe that the great 

 Creator fliould have denied to man, the nobleft animal that inhabits 

 this globe, the fame indifpenfible privilege. Without a bafis there 

 can be no fabric. Without a natural no artificial language could 

 poffibly have exifted. This point is clearly demonftrated, in a few 

 words, by that moft ingenious, candid, and profound philofopher, 

 Dr Thomas Reid, FrofefTor of Moral Philofophy in the Univerfity 

 of Glafgow. ' If mankind,' fays Dr Reid, ' had not a natural lan- 

 ' guage, they could never have invented an artificial one by their 



* reafon and fngenuity. For all artificial language fuppofes fome 



* compaft or agreement to affix a certain meaning to certain figns ; 



* therefore, there muft be compadls or agreements before the ufe of 

 ' artificial figns ; but there can be no compa£t or agreement without 

 ' figns, nor without language ; and therefore there muft be a na- 



* tural language before any artificial language can be invented *.' 

 Let any man try to overturn this argument, which is founded, not 

 upon metaphyfical conjecture, but upon the folid bafis of fa£i and 

 uncontrovertible reafoning. The elements, or conftituent parts of 

 the natural language of mankind, the Dodlor reduces to three kinds ; 

 modulations of the voice, geftures, and features. ' By means of 

 ' thefe,' fays he, ' two favages, who have no common artificial lan- 

 ' guage, can converfe together ; can communicate their thoughts in 

 ' fome tollerable manner ; can afk and refufe, affirm and deny, 

 ' threaten and fupplicate ; can traffic, enter into covenants, and 

 ' plight their faith.' 



I 



• Doftor Reld's Inquiry into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Common 

 Senfe, pag. 93. 



