THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 73 



attracting attention. If its value is that of a 

 noun, it has not in my opinion any specific char- 

 acter, but a term which would be applied alike 

 to boys, monkeys, horses, birds, or any other 

 thing which she might desire to calk If in its 

 nature it is a verb, it is equivalent to the name 

 of the act and combines the force of the imper- 

 ative and infinitive moods. 



The uniform expression of the emotions of man 

 and simian is such as to suggest that if thought 

 was developed from emotion and speech was 

 developed from thought, the expressions of emo- 

 tion were the rudiments from which speech is 

 developed. 



A striking point of resemblance between hu- 

 man speech and that of the simian is found in 

 a word which Nellie used to warn me of approach- 

 ing danger. It is not that sound which I have 

 elsewhere described as the alarm-sound, and 

 which is used only in case of imminent and 

 awful danger, but a sound used in case of re- 

 mote danger or in announcing something un- 

 usual. As nearly as I can represent the sound 

 by letters it would be "e-c-g-k," and with this 

 word I have been warned by these little friends 

 many times since I first heard it from Nellie, 



