148 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



speech discharges is the communication of ideas, 

 and its growth must depend upon the extent of 

 those ideas; and in all conditions of life and 

 in all forms of the animal kingdom the uses of 

 speech are confined to and limited by the desires, 

 thoughts, and concepts of those using it. Its ex- 

 tent is commensurate with requirement. To be- 

 lieve that there was a time in the history of the 

 human race when man could not speak is to de- 

 stroy his identity as man, and the romance of the 

 alahis could be justified from a scientific stand- 

 point only as a compromise between the giants 

 of science and superstition. Among the tribes 

 of men whose modes of life are simple, whose 

 wants are few, and whose knowledge is confined 

 to their primitive condition, the number of words 

 necessary to convey their thoughts is very 

 limited. Among some savage races are lan- 

 guages consisting of only a few hundred words 

 at most, while as we rise in the scale of civil and 

 domestic culture languages become more copious 

 and expressive as the wants become more numer- 

 ous and the conditions of life more complex. 

 As we descend from man to the lower animals, 

 we find the types of speech degenerate just in 

 proportion as we descend in the mental and moral 



