1888.] - . 2 1 3 [Brinton 
Trenton, New Jersey, or some of those figured by De Mortillet as 
derived from the beds of the Somme in France.* We have evidence 
that at that period man made use of fire; that he raised shelters to 
protect himself from the weather; that he possessed some means of 
navigating the streams; that he could occasionally overcome pow- 
erful and ferocious beasts; that he already paid some attention to 
ornamenting his person; that he lived in communities; and that 
his migrations were extensive.t In view of all this, is it not highly 
improbable that he was destitute of any vocal powers of expressing 
his. plans and his desires? I maintain that we should dismiss the 
fTomo alalus as a scientific romance which has served its time. 
More than this, I believe that by a judicious study of existing 
languages, especially those which have suffered little by admixture 
or by distant removals, we can picture with reasonable fidelity the 
character of the earliest tongues spoken by man, the speech of the 
Paleolithic Age. 
This primitive utterance was, of course, not the same everywhere. 
It varied indefinitely. But for all that it is almost certain that in 
all localities it proceeded on analogous lines of development, just as 
languages have everywhere and at all times since. By studying 
simple and isolated languages, those which have suffered least by 
contact with others, or by altérations in conditions of culture, we 
can catch some glimpses of the character of man’s earliest signifi- 
cant expressions, the ‘‘ baby-talk of the race,’’ if I may use the 
expression. I have gleaned a certain number of such traits in the 
field of American linguistics, and present them to you as curiosities, 
which, like other curiosities, have considerable niaceaporneetnd to those 
who will master their full purport. 
The question I am about to consider, is, you will observe, quite 
different from that which concerns itself with the origin of Anguistic 
stocks. Many of these unquestionably arose long after man had 
acquired well-developed languages, and when the cerebral convolu- 
tions whose activity is manifested in articulate expression had 
acquired a high grade of development through hereditary training. 
How such stocks may have arisen has been lucidly set forth by my 
learned friend Mr. Horatio Hale. He demonstrates by many ex- 
*See, for instance, Plate x of Mortillet, Musée Préhistorique; Cartailhac, Ages Préhis- 
toriques de ? Espagne, plate on p. 27. 
+1 have collected the evidence for this in an Essay on Prehistoric Archeology, in the 
Iconographie Encyclopedia, Vol. ii. 
