CHAPTER II. 



The Motives of Speech. — Expression. — The Beginning of Hu- 

 man Speech. — The Present Condition of Speech. 



In vital economy the search-light of science 

 has found the protoplasm which, from our present 

 state of knowledge, seems to be the first point of 

 contact between elemental matter and the vital 

 force. What secrets of biology remain unknown 

 within the realm of life only those who live in 

 the future may ever know. In the first condition 

 of vitalized matter we find the evidence of au- 

 tonomy. Whatever may be the ultimate force 

 which actuates this monad, the manifestations of 

 its presence and the result of its energy are seen 

 externally. Whatever may be the nature of that 

 force which imparts motion to matter, the first v 

 impulse of the biod is to secure food or to asso- 

 ciate itself with a unit of its own kind. This is 

 perhaps the first act of volition within the sphere 

 of life, the first expression of some internal want, 

 and is the first faint suggestion of a conscious- 

 ness, however feeble; and I may add with pro- 



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