The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-06-02
ANIMAL LANGUAGE,
IncontrovertibIe Evidence That Speech Is
Not Limited to Man.

| IncontrOVerttDle EVIuehce lhaC speech Is
Not Limited to Man.
The intellectual superiority of civil
zed man over his savage brethren is
due to the multiplicity of his objects of
thought, and precisely so is it with the
intellectual superiority of the savage
man over his Simian ancestors. 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 speech was altogether limited to
the human race has now to be given
UP once and for all, for such a state
ment can not stand against the
scientific evidence brought forward to
oppose it from all quarters.
Language is but a product of refec-
ton and experience, and originated,
in all probability, in interjection or the
instructive expression of the subjective
impressions, derived from external
nature; and just as the reflective
powers of the race were developed and
shown more brilliantly as each stage
in the evolutionary march of intellect
was passed, so did language pass from
he simple monosyllabic 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 inhab-
itiAg the earth who possessed no
proper language at all, and could not,
on account of their manner of living,
be placed on higher intellectual
level than the higher apes; while we
have the authority of the leading phil
ogists ofthe day in support of the fact
that the monosyllabic cries of some OF
the lower human tribes are well within
the grasp of the apes voice.
Travellers whose veracity and ability
can not be impugned have described
long conferences held by monkeys where
one individual addressed the assem-
bly, at great length, fixing the attention
of all upon himself and quelling every
, disturbance by 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
possessed by birds of all kinds, who thor
oughy well understand each other S
expressions, and, moreover, are able
to produce quite a string of different
notes consecutively, and without any
hesitation. In fact, the organ of voice
in sane of the lower animals far ex.
ceeds in power that of some tribes Of
the human family.
Tie Euphonia muslca of the East
Indies can perform the seven notes in the
: scsls; the chaffinch not only sings rea,
songs, but invents them, one of his
songs containing as many as five long
strophes, while the songs of many
savage races of men never run to hall
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 Of
stringed instruments, no Southern
tribes ever having been discovered
using such musical appliances. We
see, therefore, a gradual improvement
taking place in vocal apparatus as We
rise in the animal scale, which result;
in speech and song, and, indirectly, il
instrumental music of various degrees
and we find fresh proof that there i:
as wide difference between the de
velopement of civilized European anC
the savage man as between that of the
savage man and his brute ancestry. =
GentLemdnS Magazine.