* * * *

_To_

_MY DEVOTED WIFE_

_Whose zeal for my success is the light which guides me along the
highway of my labours, and to those earnest friends, Mr. Walter S.
Logan, Judge Charles P. Daly, Mr. James Muhlenberg Bailey, Mr. Samuel S.
McClure, Hon. O. B. Potter, Dr. Alexander Melville Bell, Hon. John Hay,
Professor S. E. Tillman, Mrs. Henry Draper, Mr. J. V. V. Booream, Mr. G.
Hilton Scribner, and Mr. B. Schlesinger, who have opened their purse as
they opened their hearts, and afforded me that aid which made it
possible for me to continue my researches. With them I shall gladly
share the glory of all that my efforts may achieve, and to them, with
profound and affectionate gratitude, this first contribution to Science
on this subject is justly dedicated by_

_THE AUTHOR._

* * * * *

PREFACE

I desire here to express my gratitude to _The New Review_, _The North
American Review_, _The Cosmopolitan_, _The Forum_, and many of the
leading journals of America, for the use of their valuable and popular
pages through which my work has been given to the public. To the press,
English and American, I gladly pay my tribute of thanks for the liberal
discussion, candid criticism, and kind consideration which they have
bestowed upon my efforts to solve the great problem of speech.

In contributing to Science this mite, I do not mean to intimate that my
task has been completed, for I am aware that I have only begun to
explore the field through which we may hope to pass beyond the confines
of our own realm and invade the lower spheres of life.

This volume is intended as a record of my work, and a voluntary report
of my progress, to let the world know with what results my labours have
been rewarded, and with the hope that it may be the means of inducing
others to pursue like investigations.

In prosecuting my studies I have had no precedents to guide me, no
literature to consult, and no landmarks by which to steer my course. I
have, therefore, been compelled to find my own means, suggest my own
experiments, and solve my own problems. Not a line on this subject is to
be found in all the literature of the world, and yet the results which I
have obtained have far surpassed my highest hopes. Considering the
difficulties under which I have been compelled to work, I have been
rewarded with results for which I dared not hope, and this inspires me
to believe that