Chapter I: 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 my success will meet my highest wishes when I am placed in touch with such subjects as I expect to find in the forests of Tropical Africa.

Only a few of my experiments are recorded in this volume, but as they illustrate my methods and set forth the results, they will serve to show, in a measure, the scope of my work.

In the latter part of this work will be found a definition of the word Speech as I have used it, and the deductions which I have made from my experiments. I have not ventured into any extreme theories, either to confirm or controvert the opinions of others, but simply commit to the world these initial facts, and the working hypotheses upon which I have proceeded to obtain them.

In Chapter XXI. I have mentioned the particular characteristics which mark the sound of monkeys as speech, and distinguish them from mere automatic sounds.

With all the gravity of sincere conviction I commit this volume to the friends of Science as the first contribution upon this subject.

R. L. GARNER.

NEW YORK, _June 1, 1892_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. PAGE

Early Impressions--First Observations of Monkeys--First Efforts
to Learn their Speech--Barriers--The Phonograph Used--A Visit to
Jokes--My Efforts to Speak to Him--The Sound of Alarm Inspires
Terror
1

CHAPTER II.

The Reconciliation--The Acquaintance of Jennie--The
Salutation--The Words for Food and Drink--Little Banquo, Dago,
McGinty, and others
14

CHAPTER III.

Monkeys have favourite Colours--Can distinguish Numbers and
Quantity--Music and Art very limited
24

CHAPTER IV.

Pedro's Speech Recorded--Delivered to Puck through the
Phonograph--Little Darwin learns a new Word
34

CHAPTER V.

Five little Brown Cousins: Mickie, Nemo, Dodo, Nigger, and
McGinty--Nemo apologises to Dodo
47

CHAPTER VI.

Dago Talks about the Weather--Tells me of his Troubles--Dodo in
the "Balcony Scene"--Her Portrait by a great Artist
59

CHAPTER VII.

Interpretation of Words--Specific Words and Signs--The Negative
Sign and Sounds--Affirmative Expressions--Possible Origin of
Negative and Positive Signs
69

CHAPTER VIII.

Meeting with Nellie--Nellie was my Guest--Her Speech and
Manners--The little Blind Girl--One of Nellie's Friends--Her
Sight and Hearing--Her Toys, and how she Played with Them
83

CHAPTER IX.

Nellie's Affections--A little Flirtation--Some of my Personal
Friends
97

CHAPTER X.

The Capuchin Vocabulary--What I have Found--What I Foresee in it
105

CHAPTER XI.

The Word for Food in the Rhesus Dialect--The Rhesus Sound of
Alarm--The Dialect of the White-face--Dolly Varden, "Uncle
Rhemus," and others
111

CHAPTER XII.

Atelles or Spider Monkeys--The Common Macaque--Java Monkeys, and
what they say--A Happy Family
121

CHAPTER XIII.

The Extent of my Experiments--Apes and Baboons--Miscellaneous
Records of Sound--The Vocal Index
131

CHAPTER XIV.

Monkeys and the Mirror--Some of their Antics--Baby Macaque and
her Papa--Some other Monkeys
138

CHAPTER XV.

Man and Ape--Their Physical Relations--Their Mental
Relations--Evolution was the Means--Who was the Progenitor of
the Ape?--The Scale of Life
146

CHAPTER XVI.

The Faculty of Thought--Emotion and Thought--Instinct and
Reason--Monkeys Reason--Some Examples
156

CHAPTER XVII.

Speech Defined--The True Nature of Speech--The Use of
Speech--The Limitations of Speech
169

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Motives of Speech--Expression--The Beginning of Human
Speech--The Present Condition of Speech
177

CHAPTER XIX.

Language embraces Speech--Speech, Words, Grammar, and Rhetoric
183

CHAPTER XX.

Life and Consciousness--Consciousness and Emotion--Emotion and
Thought--Thought and Expression--Expression and Speech--The
Vocal Organs and Sound--Speech in City and Country--Music,
Passions, and Taste--Life and Reason
190

CHAPTER XXI.

Certain Marks which Characterise the Sounds of Monkeys as
Speech--Sounds Accompanied by Gestures--Certain Acts follow
certain Sounds--They acquire new Sounds--Their Speech addressed
to certain Individuals--Deliberation and Premeditation--They
remember and anticipate Results--Thought and Reason
200

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 the Phonograph--Current
Theories of Sound--Augmentation of Sounds--Sound Waves and Sound
Units--Consonants among the Lower Races
208

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Human Voice--Human Bagpipe--Human Piccolo, Flute, and
Fife--The Voice as a Whistle--Music and Noise--Dr. Bell and his
"Visible Speech"
219

CHAPTER XXIV.

Some Curious Facts in Vocal Growth--Children and
Consonants--Single, Double, and Treble Consonants--Sounds of
Birds--Fishes and their Language--Insects and their Language
224

CHAPTER XXV.

Facts and Fancies of Speech--Language in the Vegetable
Kingdom--Language in the Mineral Kingdom
237

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE SPEECH AND REASON OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

Dash and the Baby--Two Collies talk--Eunice understands her
Mistress--Two Dogs and the Phonograph--A Canine Family--Cats and
Dogs--Insects--Signs and Sounds
246

* * * * *

THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS