282 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



With regard to the power of speech, we have already indi- 

 cated that its essential psychological condition of which 

 alone we treat in this place 1 consists in the possession of an 

 articulated ideal world, of such a nature, that single con- 

 ceptions corresponding with relatively substantive objects, are 

 kept separate, whilst their constantly changing relations to 

 each other are clearly distinguished by us. But the fulfilment 

 of this condition depends again on the original mode of con- 

 ception of things, and on the degree of distinctness with which 

 what has been conceived is again reproduced. If the percep- 

 tion is imperfect and one-sided, the conceptions, which can 

 only reproduce the perceptions, are equally so ; and this is the 

 reason why animals are incapable of speech. They are not 

 deficient in the conception of individual things relating to their 

 vital necessities, but these are comparatively few in number ; 

 all other impressions of the senses produce only a confused 

 aggregate, and the distinction of the relation of individual im- 

 pressions cannot be accomplished. In man, all senses are 

 equally called upon to receive impressions from the external 

 world; he thus acquires separate conceptions of separate 

 objects, and their relations to each other, by which speech be- 

 comes possible. 



On the same conditions, but more intimately, depends the 

 more distinctive individuality by which man is separated 

 from the brute. Speech, and the personal relations induced 

 by it, influence the individualization of characters. It is by 

 means of language that individuals enter into various and more 

 intimate relations to each other; the experiences which they 

 gather in their intercourse give a particular impress to each 

 individual, varying according to the variety of his connexion 

 with other individuals who have contributed to its develop- 

 ment. We have already had occasion to observe, that the 

 language of a people testifies to the degree of civilization, and 

 that its grammatical structure decisively influences the psy- 

 chical peculiarity ; it separates the national characters of peoples, 

 and frequently acts upon the development of individuals. 



1 It is scarcely necessary to observe, that we do not explain here the origin 

 of language, but merely the psychological condition for its possibility. 



