6 
Speech in Animals. [January, 
clearly understand and remember our language, are they so 
little capable of acquiring its use ? We will admit that it 
is, for the majority of men, easier to understand a language 
than to speak it. But this well-known fa Ct is far from ex- 
plaining the difficulty. Does it lie in the different structure 
of the vocal organs ? This difference in the higher apes is 
hut trifling. In the Carnivora it is greater; their tongues 
are relatively longer and slenderer, and better adapted for 
lapping up liquids, or for licking and rasping the bones of 
their prey, than for going through the various evolutions 
within the mouth required for the production of articulate 
sounds. The voice of the cat is deficient in compass, and 
that of the dog is too abrupt and jerky. The anthropoid 
apes, though given to converse among themselves with great 
volubility, have never been brought sufficiently long and 
closely under human influence ; they have never been known 
to propagate in a domestic condition, and their lives in cap- 
tivity in Europe or in the United States are short and sad, 
since they are soon attacked by disease. Hence the oppor- 
tunities for teaching them to talk have been insufficient. 
We should suggest that the attempt should be made, say at 
Calcutta, or Buitenzorg in Java, with the mias or the chim- 
panzee, just as we have suggested above in case of the 
parrots. The difficulty would be how to give these animals 
the freedom necessary for their health and vigour, and yet 
to bring them in sufficiently close contact with their keepers. 
We should propose that the course of training should com- 
mence with pregnant females. The young should then be 
brought from infancy into the society of land and intelli- 
gent keepers, who should teach them to speak, those which 
showed the greatest aptitude being selected as the parents 
of the next generation. 
Meantime it must not be forgotten that there are some 
Mammalia which have, in rare instances, been known to 
utter a few words. Among these is the common seal, — a 
singularly docile, affectionate, and intelligent creature, which 
might well claim at the hands of man a better treatment 
than to be massacred for the sake of its fur. 
There have been various anecdotes of talking dogs, but 
the only instance which is duly authenticated is that of the 
dog of Clermont-Ferrand, above mentioned. This dog, a 
setter, can, according to M. Roujon, utter the words “ met 
maman .” “ To make the dog speak,” says this author, “ it 
is necessary to stand before him and bid him pronounce the 
words ma maman , showing him some bread or meat. The 
dog then becomes agitated and growls, but on repeating the 
