for ourselves. It has been
as much a heresy to gainsay the dogmas of science as those of religion
until recently; and even now the tender-footed doctors guard their
theories with a vigilance and jealousy worthy of the angel that guarded
the gates of Eden.

[Sidenote: CONSCIOUSNESS AND EMOTION]

Why should it be thought strange that monkeys talk? They see, hear,
love, hate, think, and act by the same means and to the same end as man
does. They experience pain and pleasure, to express which they cry and
laugh just as man does. If the voluntary sounds they make do not mean
something, why may those creatures not as well be dumb? If they do mean
something, why may we not determine what that meaning is? It is true
that their language is quite meagre and suited only to a low plane of
life, but it may be the cytula from which all human speech proceeds, or
it may be the inferior fruit borne upon the same great tree of speech.
The organs of sensation in these creatures are modelled by the same
design as those of man, are adapted to the same uses, and discharge the
same functions. Then why should the vocal powers alone be abnormal,
except in a degree measured by the difference of place which they occupy
in the scale of Nature?

Social intercourse among men has been the chief means of developing
human speech, and we find a true index to its condition in the social
status of the different races of mankind; and by coming closer home, we
find that even in different communities of the same race and within the
limits of the same nation, a difference in the accuracy and volume of
speech, which is measured by the difference of social culture. We find
in rural districts, sparsely peopled and remote from the great centres
of population, that speech is less polished and the number of words used
greatly reduced in comparison to the same language used in the great
cities and more populous communities, where, by reason of contact with
each other and the constant use of speech, the vocal powers are much
more developed and the command of language very much improved. This same
law of development, inversely applied, would lead us in a direct line
down through Nature, rank by rank, and we would find it a reliable unit
of measure throughout the whole perspective of development. The
faculties of music, taste, and reason are measured by a like unit. It is
difficult to trace the musical powers of animals, since music does not
contribute to the comfor