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Show 334 SEXUAL SELECTION : l\IAN. PART JL remarks on this-subject,31 "doubts whether even amongst "the nations of West~rn Europe, intimately connected " as they are by close and frequent intercourse, tl1e " music of the one is interpreted in the same sense " by the others. By travelling eastwards we find that " there is certainly a different language of music. " Songs of joy and dance-accompaniments are no longer, (:as with us, in the major keys, but always in the minor.'~ vVhetlJCr or not the half-human progenitors of man possessed, like the before-mentioned gibbon, the capacity of producing, and no doubt of appreciating, musical notes, we have every reason to believe that man possessed these faculties at a very remote period, for singing and music are extremely ancient arts. Poetry, which may be considered as the offspring of song, is likewi o so ancient that many persons havo felt astoni hment that it should have arisen during the earliest ages of which we have any record. The musical faculties, which are not wholly deficient in any race, are capable of prompt and high development, as we sec with Hottentots and Negroes, who have readily become excellent musicians, although they do· not practise in their native countries anything that we should. esteem as music. But there is nothing anomalous in this circumstance : some species of birds which never naturally sing, can without much difficulty be taught to perform; thus the house-sparrow has leamt tho song of a linnet. As these two species are closely allied, and belong·. to the order of Insessores, which includes nearly all the singing-birds in the world, it is quite possible or probable that a progenitor of the spar- 31 'Journal of Antbropolog. Soc.' Oct. 1R70, p. clv. See also the several lntcr chapters in Sir John Lubbock's ' Prehistoric 'l'imrs,' secoud edition, 1869, which contain an admirable account of tlJc habits of snvogcs. • CHAP. XIX. MUSICAL POWERS. 335- row may have been a songster. It is a much more remarkable fact that parrots, which belong to a group distinct from the Insessores, and have differently-constructed vocal organs, can be taught not only to speak, but to pipe or whistle tunes invented by man, so thnt they must have some musical capacity. N everthelcss it would be extremely rash to assume that parrots are descended from some ancient progenitor which was a songster. Many analogous cases could be advanced of orO'ans and instincts originally adapted for one purpose, b having been utilised for some quite distinct purpose.32 Hence the capacity for high musical de-· velopment, which the savage 1·aces of man possess, ~ay bo due either to our semi-human progenitors havmgpractised some rude form of music, or simply to their having acquired for some distinct purposes the proper vocal organs. But in this latter case we must assume that they already possessed, ns in the above instance of tho parrots, and as seems to occur 'rith many animals, some sense of melody. Music affects every emotion, but docs not by itself excite in us the more terrible emotions of horror, rage, &c. It awakens the gentler feelings of tenderness and love, which readily pass into devotion. It likewise stirs up in us the sensation of triumph and the glorious ardour for war. These powerful and mingled feelings may well give rise to the sense of sublimity. We can concentrate, as 32 Since this chapter has boon printed I have soon a valuable article by Mr. Chauuccy Wright(' North A mer. Review,' Oct. 1870, page 293), who, in uiscussing the above suhject, remarks, "'l'horo arc many con" sequences of the ultimate laws or uuiformi~ies ~f nat~n·c .through " which the urquisition of one useful lJowor w11l brmg w1th It many "resulting atlvantages us well as limiting uisadmntagcs, actual or "po~:;siblc, which the principle of utility may not have c.omprehendeu I< in its action." This principle has an important bC'ltnug, us I l1a':c attempted to .·hew in the second chapter of this work, on the acqmsition by mau of some of his mental characteri tics. |