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Show 54 THE DESCENT OF MAN. P.A.UT I. excite in other monkeys similar emotions.30 The movements of the features and gestures of monkeys are understood by us, and they partly understand ours, as Rengger and others declare. It is a more remarkable fact that the dog, since being domesticated, has learnt to bark 31 in at least four or five distinct tones. Although barking is a new art, no doubt the wild species, the parents of the dog, expressed their feelings by cries of various kinds. With the domesticated dog we have the bark of eagerness, as in the chase; that of anger; the yelping or howling bark of despair, as when shut up; that of joy, as when starting on a walk with his master ; and the very distinct one of demand or supplication, as when wishing for a door or window to be opened. Articulate la:Qguage is, however, peculiar to man ; but he uses in common with the lower animals inarticulate cries to express his meaning, aided by gestures and the movements of the muscles of the face.32 This esp~cially h~lds good with the more simple and vivid ~eelm?'s, whwh are but little connected with our higher mtelhge~ce. O?r cries of pain, fear, surprise, anger, together With their appropriate actions, and the murmur of a mother to her ~eloved child, are more expressive t~an any words. It 1s not the mere power of articulatiOn that distinguishes man from other animals, for as every one knows, parrots can talk; but it is his large power ~f con~ecting definite sounds with definite ideas ; and th1s obvwusly depends on the de,relopment of the mental faculties. 30 Renggcr, ibid. s. 45. 31 _See my ' Variation of Animals and P lants under Domestication' vol. 1. p. 27. , 32 ino- wSoerek a , discussion o.n this sub J ·e ct m· l\Ir. E. B. Tylor's very interest- 1.•1 . ot o 1. v. ' Researches mto the Early History ofMan lim d , ' 1865 , eh ups. <JnAr. II. MENTAL POWERS. 55 As Horne Tooke, one of the founders of the noble science of philology, observes, language is an art, like brewing or baking ; but writing would have been a much more appropriate simile. It certainly is not a true instinct, as every language has to be learnt. It differs, however, widely from all ordinary arts, for man has an instinctive tendency to speak, as we see in the babble of our young children; whilst no child has an instinctive tendency to brew, bake, or write. Moreover, no philologist now supposes that any language has been deliberately invented; each has been slowly and unconsciously developed by many steps. The sounds uttered by birds offer in several respects the nearest analogy to language, for all the members of the same species utter the same instinctive cries expressive of their emotions; and all the kinds that have the power of singing exert this power instinctively; but the actual song, and even the call-notes, are learnt from their parents or foster-parents. These sounds, as Daines Barrington 33 has proved, " are no more innate than " language is in man." The first attempts to sing "'may be compared to the imperfect endeavour in a " child to babble." The young males continue practising, or, as the bird-catchers say., recording., for ten. or eleven months. Their first essays show hardly a rudiment of the future song ; but as they grow older we can perceive what they are aiming at; and at last they are said " to sing their song round." Nestlings which have learnt the song of a distinct species, as with the canary-birds educated in the Tyrol, teach and transmit their new song to their offspring. The slight natural differences of song in the same species inha- 33 Hon. Daines Barrington in ' Philosoph. Transactions,' 1773, p. 262. See also Dmeau de la Malle, in ' Ann. des Sc. Nat.' 3rd series, Zoolog. tom. x. p. 11 D. |