ns are the visible expression of the same; born of the
same cause, acts to the same end, and discharges the same functions in
the economy of life. To reason is to think methodically; and if it be
true that man cannot think without words, the same must be true of
monkeys. I do not mean, however, to claim that such is a fact with
regard to man thinking; but if such can be shown to be a fact, it will
decide the question as to the invention of human speech, as it was
necessary for man to think in order to invent; and, by the same rule, he
could not think a word which did not exist, and therefore could not have
invented it. But I beg to be allowed to stand aside and let Prof. Max
Mueller and Prof. Whitney, the great giants of comparative philology,
settle this question between themselves; and I shall abide by the
verdict which may be finally reached.

But theories are useless things when the facts are known; and since I
have actually learned from a monkey a certain sound having a certain
value and meaning a certain thing, and by repeating that sound to a
monkey of the same species have met with uniform results, have
understood him, and been understood by him, no argument could be so
potent as to cause me to believe that this was accident. I am aware that
coincidents occur; but when they become the rule instead of the
exception, they are no longer mere coincidents, but are the normal state
of things.

[Sidenote: THOUGHT AND REASON]

In conclusion, I would say that since the sounds uttered by monkeys
perform all that speech performs, is made of the same material, produced
by the same means, acts to the same ends, and through the same media, it
is as near an approach to speech as the mental operations by which it is
produced are an approach to thought. If it can be shown that these
mental feats are not thought, the same process of reasoning could show
that these sounds are not speech. If man derived his other faculties
from such an ancestry, may not his speech have been acquired from such
a source? If the prototype of man has survived through all the
vicissitudes of time, may not his speech likewise have survived? If the
races of mankind are the progeny of the Simian stock, may not their
languages be the progeny of the Simian tongue?

CHAPTER XXII.

The Phonograph as an aid to Science--Vowels the basis of
Phonation--Consonants developed from a Vowel basis--Vowels are
Compound--The Analysis of Vowels by t