ent, and is considered to be the oldest of
the senses, the others indeed being held by some writers to be only
its modifications. Scent, of essential importance to many animals, has
with man almost ceased to be of any, except in connection with taste,
which he has developed to a high degree. Whether or not sight preceded
hearing in order of development, it is difficult, in conjecturing the
first attempts of man or his hypothetical ancestor at the expression
either of percepts or concepts, to connect vocal sounds with any
large number of objects, but it is readily conceivable that the
characteristics of their forms and movements should have been
suggested to the eye--fully exercised before the tongue--so soon
as the arms and fingers became free for the requisite simulation
or portrayal. There is little distinction between pantomime and a
developed sign language, in which thought is transmitted rapidly and
certainly from hand to eye as it is in oral speech from lips to
ear; the former is, however, the parent of the latter, which is more
abbreviated and less obvious. Pantomime acts movements, reproduces
forms and positions, presents pictures, and manifests emotions with
greater realization than any other mode of utterance. It may readily
be supposed that a troglodyte man would desire to communicate the
finding of a cave in the vicinity of a pure pool, circled with soft
grass, and shaded by trees bearing edible fruit. No sound of nature is
connected with any of those objects, but the position and size of the
cave, its distance and direction, the water, its quality, and amount,
the verdant circling carpet, and the kind and height of the trees
could have been made known by pantomime in the days of the mammoth,
if articulate speech had not then been established, as Indians or
deaf-mutes now communicate similar information by the same agency.

The proof of this fact, as regards deaf-mutes, will hardly be
demanded, as their expressive pantomime has been so often witnessed.
That of the North American Indians, as distinct from the signs which
are generally its abbreviations, has been frequently described in
general terms, but it may be interesting to present two instances from
remote localities.

A Maricopa Indian, in the present limits of Arizona, was offered an
advantageous trade for his horse, whereupon he stretched himself on
his horse's neck, caressed it tenderly, at the same time shutting his
eyes, meaning thereby that no