OF LANGUAGES. 



1] 



man is distinguished from the dumb animal ; though dumb- 

 ness in this case does not signify either that an animal 

 does not utter sounds, or that the meaning of these utter- 

 ances cannot be understood. On the contrary man as a rule 

 does understand the intentions of animals, as expressed by 

 their movements and sounds ; their dumbness is rather a 

 matter of degree, and is attributed to their being deprived 

 of articulate speech. The expressions used by brutes are 

 in the various species always the same and not subject to 

 change. From time immemorial sheep have been bleating, 

 cows lowing, horses neighing, dogs barking, cats mewing 

 and cocks crowing, and though even these simple tones are 

 expressive of modification in meaning according to modula- 

 tion of voice, no apparent alteration seems to have ever 

 taken place. 17 To appreciate correctly the sentiments of 



(17) The so-called languages of animals have been made repeatedly the 

 object of special studies. Among others the Frenchman Dupont and the 

 German Gr. T. Wenzel (Neue Entdeckungen iiber die Thiersprache, Wien, 

 1805) were engaged in such researches. The former was of opinion that he 

 was able to distinguish eleven sounds or words in the language of the pigeon, 

 as many in that of the fowl, fourteen among cats, twenty-two among cattle, 

 and thirty-three among dogs. But observations of this kind seem doomed to 

 failure, for, however ingenious man may be, it is quite possible, that in spite 

 of all his cleverness, he will misunderstand signs and sounds made by 

 animals. Their exact meaning may escape his comprehension, especially as it 

 is doubtful whether we can gain really a true insight into the character of 

 beings so distinct from us. It is therefore presumptuous to declare, that 

 there exists no kind of communication similar to speech by means of sound 

 among animals, because man has as yet failed to discover it. 



The resemblance which exists between the screams uttered by G-orillas, 

 Orang-Utangs and other monkeys on the one side, and the bawling or clicks 

 peculiar to Bushmen in Africa, and to other savages in Asia, America and 

 Australia, though well deserving of our attention, arises probably from a 

 similar construction of the throat, and from the equality or rather inconsi- 

 derable disparity of their mental development. It does however in no way 

 prove that the monkeys share with their neighbours, the uncouth human 

 coinhabitants of the forests, the gift of articulate speech, of which the 

 latter may as yet be themselves unconscious. Without descending to the 

 level of lower animals man can imitate the utterances of animals, thus also 

 can the latter, e.g., parrots and starlings, learn to pronounce human words 

 without ascending from their inferior position, i.e., without obtaining the 

 gift of speech. 



