THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 2 I I 



usual was taking place. They soon responded to 

 his call, and found that he had the fire quite 

 under control. He had thus saved his master's 

 barn and house from the flames, and since that 

 time, as I have witnessed myself, will not allow 

 any one to light a cigar with a match in his pres- 

 ence. The peculiar sound which he makes un- 

 der such circumstances appeals to the sense of 

 fear or apprehension, and I have observed that 

 the significance of all speech depends much upon 

 intonation. It is less so with man, perhaps, than 

 with other animals, because of the great number 

 of words which amplify and shade his meanings. 

 But by a single word of human speech we can 

 express many shades of meaning simply by mod- 

 ulation, but having at our command so many 

 words to qualify our meaning, we lose sight of 

 the value and power of intonation. The diffi- 

 culty of discerning the delicate shades of mean- 

 ing imparted by intonation depends upon the 

 mode of thought, and the simpler this is the 

 keener the power to interpret inflections. One 

 very important fact is that a dog only learns to 

 interpret one sound on one subject at any one 

 time. He cannot put together in his mind a 

 great number of sounds, nor interpret complex 



