56 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



as human beings do ; but they are real tears, and 

 are doubtless the result of the same causes that 

 move the human eyes to tears. 



It has been my experience that these sounds 

 appeal directly to our better feelings. What 

 there is in the sound itself I cannot say ; but it 

 touches some chord in the human heart which 

 vibrates in response to it. It has impressed me 

 with the thought that all our senses are like the 

 strings of some great harp ; each one having a 

 certain tension, so that any sound produced 

 through an emotion would find response in that 

 chord which is in unison with it. Indeed, I have 

 thought that our emotions and sensations may 

 be like the diatonic scale in music, and that the 

 organs through which they act may respond in 

 tones and semi-tones, and that each multiple of 

 any fundamental tone will affect the chord in 

 unison with it like the strings upon a musical 

 instrument. The logical deduction, then, would 

 be that our sympathies and affections are the 

 chords, and our aversions and contempt the dis- 

 cords, of that great harp of passion. 



