e, and
in man sight has become in a large degree the dominant sense, and smell
has fallen to a minor place.

With this change in the relations of the senses has come a change in the
degree of mental development. It is highly probable that the dependence
of the apes on vision instead of smell has had much to do with their
mental activity, quickness of observation, and active curiosity. In man
there can be no question that it has played a great part in the rapid
development of his intellectual powers, and in the extraordinary breadth
of his conception of nature as compared with that of the lower animals.
While hearing and smell advise us of neighboring conditions only, and
have their chief utility as aids to the preservation of existence, sight
makes us aware of the conditions of nature in remote localities,
extending far beyond the limits of the earth. While this sense plays its
part as one of the protective agencies, it is still more useful as an
agent in the acquisition of knowledge in general, and has much to do
with the development of the intellectual faculties. We may look,
therefore, upon the increasing dominance of the sense of sight as a
leading agency in the making of man as a thinking being, and may ascribe
to this in a considerable measure the thirst for information and faculty
of imitation so marked in the apes.

VII

THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

One of the characteristics of man, of which we spoke as among those to
which his high development is due, is that of language. There is nothing
that has had more to do with the mental progress of the human race than
facility in the communication of thought, and in this vocal language is
the principal agent and in the fullest measure is the instrument of the
mind. Human speech has, in these modern times, become remarkably
expressive, indicating all the conditions, relations, and qualities, not
only of things, but of thoughts and ideal conceptions. And the utility
of language has been enormously augmented by the development of the arts
of writing and printing. Originally thought could only be communicated
by word of mouth and transmitted by the aid of the memory. Now it can be
recorded and kept indefinitely, so that no useful thought of able
thinkers need be lost, but every valuable idea can be retained as an
educative influence through unnumbered ages.

In this instrumentality, which has been of such extraordinary value to
man, the lower animals are strikingl