204 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



plant forms differ as the spheres of life to which 

 they are assigned differ. It is possible that 

 chemical affinity may be the germ from which all 

 language springs, as the chemical elements are 

 the materials from which all compounds are built 

 up. The vitalization of matter itself and the ar- 

 rangement of the ultimate particles which con- 

 stitute a living body are the work of the vital 

 force in a polarized condition. This will account, 

 in a measure, for all the individuals of one type 

 selecting one mode of expression as they select or 

 conform to one physical outline. In every rank 

 of life there seems to be some intuitive mode of 

 expression which suggests itself to all the indi- 

 viduals of that kind when they desire under the 

 same conditions to express the same thing. The 

 exceptions to this law of expression increase in 

 number as we rise in the scale of life, and the 

 means of expression increase and widen and the 

 faculty of thought enlarges. The laws of chem- 

 ical affinity are rigid and uncompromising and 

 there are but few exceptions in them, and only 

 marked changes of condition can modify the re- 

 sults. As we ascend even in the mineral king- 

 dom to the higher compounds we find a wider 

 range of variation, and as we continue our ascent 



