198 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
and all contained in it; and the origin of life remains a problem 
still unsolved. 
The second break in the chain of evidence of the truth of Evolu- 
tion is the Origin of Speech, or, as some would say, the Origin of 
Reason. This question has not yet received from modern philoso- 
phers the attention which it deserves. Scientists have been so 
engaged in the discussion of the origin of life, and in the 
investigation of its development in the lower forms of life, that 
there has been little opportunity for enquiring into a development 
much more remarkable than any hitherto examined. Dr. Thompson 
does not refer to it, however remotely, in his address. Indeed there 
seems to be something like unwillingness on the part of physical 
philosophers to face the question at all, or to deal in any way with 
the phenomena of consciousness, which is essentially connected with 
it. They prefer to have to do with that which they can see, and 
handle, and analyze. The microscope and the blowpipe are their 
favourite instruments; with these they are perfectly at home; but 
they are unused to the methods of self-introspection and mental 
analysis which are alone of any service in investigating the phe- 
nomena of mind, and of that which is its outward expression—the 
vift of speech. This faculty, however, is as patent a fact as that 
of life itself. Man possessed of speech, and thereby giving evidence 
of a high mental development, has to be accounted for; as much as 
the elephant or dog possessed of great sagacity and intelligence, but 
destitute of speech and incapable of acquiring it. This fact has to 
be faced by Evolutionists, and until it is sufficiently explained, their 
theory must remain unproven. 
We are aware that much is made of Instinct, or, if the word be 
objectionable, the low type of Reason, found in many animals. No 
one ever had a pet dog or cat but has some interesting anecdotes of 
what they have done, to the intense gratification of their rational 
friends. But nobody has ever heard of what these clever dogs or 
cats have said; of their ever having been taught to speak, and still 
less of their having learned to do so. The chasm between Man, the 
speaking animal, and the Brute, the dumb animal, is both broad 
and deep; as broad and deep as that between the dead and living 
substance. 
The theme is attractive, but the question is not before us to-night, 
and as yet has hardly come fairly under the notice of the Evolu- 
nist; but we may observe in passing that the difficulty of the 
