146 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



causes of many simple effects which our fore- 

 fathers dared not attempt to solve, but reverently 

 ascribed to the immediate influence of divinity. 

 If speech in its ultimate nature is symbolic, what 

 must have been the condition of man before its 

 invention, and how did he arrive at the first term 

 or sound of speech? He did not invent sound 

 nor the means of making it. He did not invent 

 thought, the thing which speech expresses ; and 

 it is no more reasonable to believe that he in- 

 vented speech than to believe that he invented 

 the faculties of sight and hearing, which are cer- 

 tainly the natural product of his organic nature 

 and environments. So far as I can find through 

 the whole range of animal life, all forms of land 

 mammals possess vocal organs, which are devel- 

 oped in a degree corresponding to the condition 

 of the brain, and seem to be in every instance as 

 capable of producing and controlling sounds as 

 the brain is of thinking; in other words, the 

 power of expression is in perfect keeping with 

 the power of thinking. From my acquaintance 

 with the animal kingdom, it is my firm belief 

 that all mammals possess the faculty of speech 

 in a degree commensurate with their experience 

 and needs, and that domestic animals have a 



