intimation or any gesture, which could have awakened his attention. Nevertheless he expressed pleasure or chagrin according to the occasion; finally, he manifested by his conduct, that he had well understood that the conversation concerned him. I had brought a female dog from Vienna to Paris; at the end of very little time she understood French as well as German. I have assured myself of this, by uttering before her whole sentences in both languages.

It remains for me to examine to what extent comparative anatomy confirms these observations, by the examination of the cranium and of the head of animals.

On the Organ of the Faculty of Language in Animals.

In man, the brain, or rather the inferior anterior convolutions, which at present interest us, extend themselves, ordinarily, about two inches from the median line toward the right and left; in such a manner, that the whole width of the anterior inferior surface of the human brain is ordinarily about four inches. In the horse and the ox, it is nearly two and a half inches; and, in fact, the forehead of animals is much less broad than that of man. The whole of this cerebral mass, situated on the orbitar plate and against the forehead, is composed of several organs, such as those of educability, of the faculty of localities, memory of persons, of words and of language, of the faculties of tones, of numbers, and perhaps those of order and time. Now, according as a species is found endowed with more or fewer of these organs, its cerebral mass will extend more or less on the sides, and the inferior anterior surface of the cranium will be more or less large. In man, the ball of the eye, or the orbit, except its external edge, is covered by the inferior convolutions of the anterior lobes of the brain, and the superior plate

of the orbit is very large, more or less extended toward the side, and more or less flattened or prominent, according as the convolutions are more or less large or developed. In the monkey, nature has remained faithful to the same type; but the anterior parts of the brain shrink much more than in our species; a much larger part of the eyeball is placed without the encephalon. The superior orbitar plate is not only less in size, but also more spherical in the interior of the cranial cavity; the effect of which is, that, making allowance for proportion, the brain of the monkey terminates forward more in a cone or an oval, than that of man. Pl. LXXXIX. fig. 1. the interior of the base of a human cranium; fig. 2, open base of the cranium of the monkey, shows that the inferior middle convolutions of the anterior lobes are much more excavated, that is, much less developed toward the orbitar plate, than in man. The orbits of the ape (guenon) and of the ourang outang are almost as deep as those of man; which proves, how much smaller the inferior surface of the anterior lobes is in these animals, than in man. In the papions, the mandrils, and the pongoes, more than half the eyeball is found outside of the brain. Compare the crania of man with the crania of all the species of monkeys; Pl. lxxv. LXXXVIII. with Pl. LXVII. fig. 1, the cranium of the pongo, fig. 2, cranium of the papio, and Pl. LXXIX. fig. 1, the cranium of the sagouin, fig. 2, the cranium of the capuchin monkey, fig. 3, the cranium of the troglodyte monkey, fig. 4, the cranium of the ourang outang. Compare the brains of the patas monkey and of the ourang outang, Pl. xxxiv. and Pl. lxxvii. the brain of an ape (guenon), fig. 1, with all the plates of the human brain.

In the dog, it is only the posterior internal part of the ball, which touches the brain; more than two thirds of the eye are found placed outside of the encephalon. In several other animals, the whole ball is found outside of the brain, and more forward. This

takes place in the badger, the beaver, the pig, for the part of the cranium which, in these species, seems, at first view, to constitute the superior orbit, forms, in fact only the frontal sinuses. See Pl. LXVI. LXX. LXXII.

the two heads of dogs, LXXXI. fig. 1, and fig 2; in general all the heads, and, Pl. xxxIII. the brains of the kangarou, fig. 3, of the tiger and lion, fig. 4, and 5, Pl. III. the brain of the calf; Pl. xiv. the brain of the sheep; Pl. LXXVII. fig. 2, the brain of the cat.

In birds there is always as much more of cerebral mass placed above the internal part of the ball, as the species has more aptitude for language. Compare Pl. LXXXI. fig. 3, the pie; fig. 4, the starling; fig. 5, the great raven; fig. 6, the parrot, with the gallinacea, Pl. LVII. and the brain of the chicken, Pl. 1. fig. 2.

This small number of examples will enable the reader to conceive, not only, that animals may have among them a determinate language, but also how they are capable of comprehending those arbitrary sounds, which compose our languages, how they are competent to seize a series of ideas expressed by a period.

It even appears, that the aptitude for language, possessed by animals is destined, not only to subserve their proper wants, but also to render them capable of understanding the signification of sounds, and the language of other animals and of man.

Philosophical Reflections on Spoken Language.

Since Condillac, philosophers have exhausted themselves in reasonings on the influence, which signs in general, and spoken language in particular, exercise on our ideas and our knowledge. They maintain, that, without signs we should hardly think; that it is only articulate words which can lead us to abstract ideas; that signs and language develope our faculties, give birth to our inclinations, our sentiments, affections,

passions; that, without signs, we could not compare our simple ideas, nor analyze our compound ones; that in this way, languages are as necessary to thought as to speech, to the possession of ideas as to their expression that without language we should have only very few ideas, and these very confused and incomplete.

It happens, by a fatality common to philosophers, and which happens to physicians and all others, to take the symptoms for the disease, the shell for the fruit. Destutt Tracy has aready said, that Condillac should have announced his discovery differently, and have said, that every sign is the expression of the result of a calculation executed, or, if you will, of an analysis made, and that it fixes and establishes this result, in such manner, that a language is really a collection of discovered formula, which afterward facilitate, and marvellously simplify the calculations and analyses which we wish to make ulteriorly. In fact, all possible signs, the language of gesture as well as verbal language, are the product of the activity of the faculties, inclinations, affections, and passions of men and animals. It is in the nature of man and animals to produce certain sounds as soon as they are affected; as soon as the experience they necessity of communicating with their fellows. It is an effect so necessary to their organization, that it even takes place in spite of us; and these seem almost always to depict our various affections so well, that they become the most certain and the most distinct natural signs. Before all language, the organs of our qualities and faculties are active, and however little this action may be felt, it manifests itself either by gestures, or by sounds, or words, or by both in combination. It follows, that these external signs, for the most part, are proportioned to the action of the internal faculties; it is by means of language, that man and the animal communicate their feelings and their ideas; and consequently the language of each species of animal, of each people, of

each individual, must be more or less rich and just, according as the sentiments and the thoughts are more or less numerous, clear, lively, and determinate. Any language whatever can never have more signs, than those who form it have ideas or sentiments. Languages and knowledge always are in concert; and in their progress, the equilibrium always establishes itself between the interior faculties and the signs. In order to transmit to my hearers or my readers, in a clear manner my ideas and my feelings, I try to impress myself with them, to personify them, if I may be permitted to use the expression, and the proper language spontaneously presents itself. This is the reason why the most perfect language is always employed by the most profound and enlightened men; and whenever language is poor, vague, imperfect, vacillating, the sentiments and the course of the ideas are open to the same charge. The language of brutes is, for the same reason, very limited; and thus it may be conceived, why that of certain savages is composed only of three hundred words. The words are created only in proportion to the need we have of them.

The doctrine so pompously announced, therefore, is false; namely, that language, that signs in general, have called forth, directed, and fixed the progress of the human mind in its combinations and researches. I admit, that the history of signs is, at the same time, the history of the successive advancement of human knowledge. But it is knowledge, inclinations, sentiments, talents, which have produced the signs; never could any sign give rise to any inclination, sentiment, or talent. It is necessary first to have experienced these, and then to have found the acceptation of the word or sign invented by others. Speak of metaphysics in the most distinct terms to an animal, an idiot, a man of very limited powers, and it is talking of colors to a blind man. Boast to a miser the pleasures of beneficence, to a cruel man, the charms of compassion; you will never, with all your signs, awaken