Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-06-08


thai speech Is given 10 N 10 conceal
our emos sons ana sentiments In
short, speech il failure Ii cannot
convey wat IL means to convey, even
when il means 70 convey the truth; II il
means 10 convey what is not the truth
IL succeeds only in 80 far Is il may be-
wilder the hearers true intuition; tAat
is. the nearer win not believe the par
ticular lie which the speaker Is trying
10 put forward. but il Is by that he
prevented from diyining the actna
truth.
Now the survival among intelligent
beings Of an anomaly Of this kind is =
curious fact. and with the elevation Of
the race, we may fairly expect that IL
viii not survive forever The time viii
come when human beings will desire
real Interchange of thoughts. and COM
manication Of feelings: ard when that
time comes. speech. as we now know IL.
viii be laid ASIDE. it was . poor make
shift at best, ard has been growing
moro and more Inadequate Is the re-
quiremenrs and complexities Of lfo In
creased. Ii is. indeed complete an
aehronism already; less than any other
thing has IT partal1en Of the general ad-
vance Of intelligence We feel this ct
every turn; bat we persistentiy fail TO
devise any suitable remedy. The e.
forts to invent a universal language are
ludicrously beside tho mark. A spoken
LANGUAGE that everybody under
stands" is Just es lar from what is
wanted as language only understood
by two persons The point Is that no
body does. or ever can understand"
any spoken language whatever. No;
the form must be Instituted on another
plane altogether; the whole point Of
view must be changed. We must form
our new language out of those clements,
and on those principles. which have
hitherto been kept studiously in the
background
In the Grst place, we want o language
that shall be almost infinitely more
rapid in its operation than the present
one Everybody has noticed how much
swifter thought is than speech. Yet
there is no necessary reason why speech
or ut least mun,cation-shorld
not keep pace with thought. What is
needed is n means of throwing the whole
OF the speakers mind bodily into that of
the listener-of conveying to your in
terlocuter by single impulse your own
perception Of your own meaning. tire
quires bat q moment for the eye to take
In the whole sweep OF landscape
which it would need hours or days to
describe in words. Now. if our minds
were open or could be opened to one an
others mental vision, 1t IL evident that
there would no longer be any vocal
speech. OF course, such a revelation
would dispose forever Of the possibility
of concealnent or deception; the WORTH
would become palace of truth, and we
should be inevitably known to one an
other for precisely what we are. In
our present moral and social condition,
this would not be agreeable to the ma
jority Of us, and that is doubtless the
reason why we have chung so despcr-
ately to audible words. But If man is
to be perfected he will no longer have
anything to conceal; and then he will
set himself to find . way to complete
an adequate self-revclntion. II will
probably be discovered that such revela-
ton is not nearly so nbstruse and ardu-
GUS problem @ 1t might now appear.
Two methods at once suggest them
selves, one physical the other meta
physical. The former Is related to the
sign language, q coarse and primitive
version Of which is practiced by savages
and uncducated persons But the true
sign language is Q far more subtle and
comprehensive thing than the most
Quick-witted Indian or Italian ever
dreamed of. The signs must be made,
not by gestures of arms, hands, shout
dcrs-not in short, by muscular move
mcnts, but by the finest, most delicate
pulsations and contractions Of the
nerves of the face, especially those
surrounding tho eyes and mouth. Our
faces are now SO stiff and rigid. thanks
to long training with view to making
them opaque marks instead of the trans
parent indicators they were intended to
be. that we have almost entirely lost
control OF these exquisite nerves But
we may still observe their working in
infants and young children, and may
imagine what they might become were
they educated through several genera
tions. By the face, eyes and mouth,
and by almost insensible notifications
of the pose CT the body, a language could
be developed which to the eyes edu-
Gated TO read it would be rs
swift and comprehensive as light
itself. and. of course. entire
ly independent Of tho nation
atty of the communicates. Nor would il
fail to express anything that required
expression, for, as the human mind be-
comes deeper and lofticr. it will cease
10 occupy itself with r,amberless unim-
portant and lifcless trivialities that now
distract and confuse it, and all thought
will be based upon emotion, and viii
have respect TO ends Of life and use.
The metaphysical method is. Of
course. what we have begun Co call
tciepsthy or thought transfercnce. The
principle Of thought transscrencc seems
pretty well established: and, II It really
be fact, there are no apparent limits
10 its future development One person
may. at VIII and to oil iDtents and pur-
poses, become another, SO far q, what
he is thinking aud feeling are con-
cerned; and distance in space need be
no bar 10 intcr-communication. But
this lsuguagc-if language IL can be
called--secfns almost too immediate
aud direct for general use; IL Is agrcea-
bic 20 nse n medium, however fine.
Il rrr t&-er<%rraH e.. 80