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.
At the beginning of life there is a consciousness which is not more
feeble than is the life with which it is associated; and as that spark
of life kindles into a flame, so that spark of consciousness kindles
into the "ego," and nowhere can a line be drawn at which it may be said
"here consciousness first intercepted life." But as the living form
develops organs and members, through the agency of the vital force,
whatever that may be, so consciousness develops into desires, emotion
and thought. Where shall the line be drawn which separates these
attributes? Standing in the centre, we look around and see the horizon
touching the plain on every side, and this appears to us as a great
circle, the centre of which is always occupied by the observer, and from
our standpoint we imagine that everything between us and that horizon
must be that distance from the centre; but as we move our point of view
from place to place, we move the circle with us, and yet we cannot find
the boundary line which marks this circle at any time. In a manner not
unlike this we pass from centre to centre of the circles of life, and
carry with us the circle, so that at no one point do we ever appear to
be much closer to the horizon than we were at any other point.
[Sidenote: LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS]
The classification of genera and species is in a great degree arbitrary;
but much less so than are these abstract characters of life and mind.
There is nowhere a line at which emotion stops and thought begins; there
is nowhere a line at which thought stops and expression begins; there is
nowhere a line at which expression stops and speech begins. These blend
into each other so that only by comparing the extremes can we discern a
difference.
The tenets of metaphysics have heretofore been made to harmonise with
the tenets of theology, and hence it is that we have learned to follow
the laws laid down by others and not to think 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 comfort or development of types and only affords
pleasure to the intellectual being, and hence is only an accomplishment
obeying no rule of normal growth.
[Sidenote: THE FACULTY OF REASON]
As the use of the natural sense of taste makes possible the choice of
nourishment, and all forms of life are thus sustained, the natural taste
becomes an important factor of their comfort, and upon this physical
basis rests, perhaps, the whole superstructure of ethics. The first idea
of ownership is doubtless found in the possession of food; and this
right of property is protected by the unwritten laws of incipient life.
The faculty of reason, which man has arrogated to himself, is only
limited by that dim line which bounds the vital sphere and sheds its
rays through all the kingdom of life, from that point where the vital
spark first lights the monad, through all the labyrinths of change, to
man in the full pride of his divinity, standing upon the threshold of
the angelic state. It is not by the exercise of reason that water flows
down hill, or that matter obeys the law of gravity; but in the exercise
of autonomy, however feeble may be the motive, reason guides the act.
The power of this faculty is measured by the development of others, and
there is no point between the two extremes at which reason intercepts
life. The degree in which all the powers of sense and faculty are
developed determines the horizon of the thing which possesses them. The
aggregation of powers to act constitutes life; and the aggregation of
powers to guide the action constitutes reason.
[Sidenote: ALL MAMMALS REASON]
Leaving the realm of metaphysics and returning to the order of primates,
to which we shall confine our present work, I shall resume by repeating
that not only do primates have the faculty of speech, but the whole
family of mammals have some form of speech which is in keeping with
their conditions of life. In addition to this declaration, I assert that
all mammals reason by the same means and to the same ends, but not to
the same degree. The reason which controls the conduct of a man is just
the same in kind as that which prompts the ape. The latter cannot carry
the process to such a great extent, but _microsophic_ pedants have not
shown in what respect the methods differ only in degree. That same
faculty which guided man to tame the winds of commerce, taught the
nautilus to lift its tentacles and embrace the passing breeze. Yet we
are told that reason guides the man and instinct guides the nautilus.
These are but two names for light; the one is dawn, the other noon, but
both are light. I cannot see in what respect the light of a lamp differs
from that of a bonfire except in volume; they are the products of the
same forces in Nature, acting through the same media, and, becoming
causes, produce the same effects. That psychic spark which dimly glows
in the animal bursts into a blaze of effulgence in man. The one differs
from the other just as a single ray of sunlight differs from the glaring
light of noon. [Sidenote: EFFECTS OF ONE GREAT CAUSE] If man could
disabuse his mind of that contempt for things below his plane of life,
and hush the siren voice of self-conceit, his better senses might be
touched by the eloquence of truth. But while the vassals of his empty
pride control his mind, the plainest facts appeal to him in vain, and
all the cogency of proof is lost. He is unwilling to forego that vain
belief that he is Nature's idol, and that he is a duplicate of Deity.
Held in check by the strong reins of theology and tradition, he has not
dared to controvert those dogmas which bear the stamp of error on their
face; he dares not turn away from the idols of his own conceit and read
the rubrics written in the fossil rocks; he dares not take those proofs
which none can counterfeit, and whose authority is not gainsaid; he
dares not lay aside the yoke which galls the neck of patience, or
breathe the air unblest by some mysterious rite performed in fear. By
such restraints his ears are closed against those voices which appeal to
him from without the temple gates of his belief. In what respect would
man be less god-like if it be shown that monkeys talk? To elevate the
humbler ranks could not degrade mankind. Whether man is the work of
Deity or was evolved by laws of change from primal matter; whether he
was made in one specific act or is the last amendment to a million prior
types; whether he is the creature of design or accident, the authorship
of his being and that of all the forms which roam the broad empire of
life must be the same. We are all the effects of one Great Cause,
whatever that may be, and that which gave to man the power of speech
imparted it to apes; and I can see no reason why Nature should have
drawn a line about this faculty, and made the rest a common heritage.