The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-06-01
Animals Have Language,
Gentleman's Magazine.

Gentleman's Magazine.
The intellectual superiority Of civil.
lied man over his savage brethren is
due to the greater multiplicity Of his
objects OF thought, and precisely so is
it with the intellectual superiority OF
the savage man over simian ances-
tors. The actions of all have the
same aim, viz, the supplying OF the
wants OF physical nature and the
gratifying of the desires aroused in the
mind. The old theory that speecl
was altogether limited to the human
rae has now to be given up ono and
for all, for such a statement cannot
stand against the scientific evidence
brought forward to eppCsc It tsom all
quarters.
Language is but a product of refec-
tion and experience, and originated,
in all probability, in intersection or
the Instructive expression Of the sub.
i~ective impressions derived from
external nature; and Just as the re-
flectIve powers Of the race were de-
veloped and shown more brilliantly
as each stage in the evolutionary
march OF intellect was passed, so did
language pass from the simple mono.
syllable cries OF the lower ANIMALS and
savage men to the complex dialects Of
modern civilization; and it is worthy
OF note that at the present day, or at
least very recently, there were races OF
savage men inhabiting the earth who
possessed no proper language at all,
and could not, on account of their
manner of living, be placed on a higher
intellectual level than the higher apes;
while we have the authority Of the
leading philologists OF the day in sup
port OF the fact that the m~onosyllabic
cries of some OF the lower human
tribes are well within the grasp OF the
apes voice.
Travellers whose veracitv and abili-
ty cannot be impugncd have described
long conferences held by monkeys,
where one individual addressed the
assembly at great length, fixing tine
attention Of all upon himself and
quelliag every disturbance by a loud
and harsh cry, which was at
once recognized and obeyed by
the multitude; and we need no
traveller to point out to us the many
notes of call and recognition possess
ed by birds of all kinds, who thor
oughly we'll understand each others
expressions, anu moreover arc a5fo
to produce quite a string OF different
notes consecutively, and without any
hesitation. In TACT the organ of voice
in some of the lower animals far ex-
ceeds in power that OF some tribes of
the human family.
The Euphonia musica of the East
Indies can perform the seven notes
in the scale; the chafinch not only
sings real songs, but inyents them,
one OF his songs containing as many
as FIVE long strophes, while the songs
of many savage races of men never
run to half that length, and when,
Cook visited the Fiji archipelago the
native women could only sing from
la to mi. Asia appears to have been
the birthplace ofstringed instruments,
nc Southern tribes ever having been
discovered using such musical appli-
ances. We see, therefore, a gradual
improvement taking place in vocal
apparatus as we rise in the animal
scale, which results in speech and
song, and, indirectly, in instrumental
music OF various degrees; and we find
fresh proof that there is as wide a diff
ference between the development of
civilized European and the savage
man as between that of the savage
man and his brute ancestry.