126 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



had their intellects developed to the same degree as that of 

 man, general causes only can be assigned in answer, and it 

 is unreasonable to expect anything more definite, consider- 

 ing our ignorance with respect to the successive stages of 

 development through which each creature has passed. 



The formation of different languages and of distinct spe- 

 cies, and the proofs that both have been developed through 

 a gradual process, are curiously parallel." But we can trace 

 the formation of many words further back than that of spe- 

 cies, for we can perceive how they actually arose from the 

 imitation of various sounds. We find in distinct languages 

 striking homologies due to community of descent, and analo- 

 gies due to a similar process of formation. The manner in 

 which certain letters or sounds change when others change 

 is very like correlated growth. We have in both cases the 

 reduplication of parts, the effects of long- continued use, and 

 so forth. The frequent presence of rudiments, both in lan- 

 guages and in species, is still more remarkable. The letter 

 m in the word am, means /; so that in the expression I am, 

 a superfluous and useless rudiment has been retained. _ In 

 the spelling also of words, letters often remain as the rudi- 

 ments of ancient forms of pronunciation. Languages, like 

 organic beings, can be classed in groups under groups; and 

 they can be classed either naturally, according to descent, 

 or artificially by other characters. Dominant languages and 

 dialects spread widely, and lead to the gradual extinction 

 of other tongues. A language, like -a species, when once 

 extinct, never, as Sir C. Lyell remarks, reappears. The 

 same language never has two birthplaces. Distinct lan- 

 guages may be crossed or blended together. °° We see vari- 



words, and even short sentences, more readily than almost any other British 

 bird; yet, as he adds, after long and closely investigating its habits, he has 

 never known it in a state of nature, display any unusual capacity for imitation. 

 "Eesearches in Zoology," 1834, p. 158. 



" See the very interesting parallelism between the development of species 

 and languages, given by Sir 0. Lyell in "The Geolog. Evidences of the Antiquity 

 of Man," 1863, chap, xxiii. 



** See remarlfs to this effect by the Rev. F. W. Parrar, in an interesting arti- 

 cle entitled "Philology and Darwinism," in "Nature," March 24, 1870, p. 528. 



