The collaborators in the work above explained have not generally
responded to the request to communicate material under this head. It
is, however, hoped that by now printing some extracts from published
works and the few contributions recently procured, the attention of
observers will be directed to the prosecution of research in this
direction.
The term "signal" is here used in distinction from the signs noted
in the DICTIONARY, extracts from which are given above, as being some
action or manifestation intended to be seen at a distance, and not
allowing of the minuteness or detail possible in close converse.
Signals may be executed, first, exclusively by bodily action; second,
by action of the person in connection with objects, such as a blanket,
or a lance, or the direction imparted to a horse; third, by various
devices, such as smoke, fire or dust, when the person of the signalist
is not visible. When not simply intended to attract attention they are
generally conventional, and while their study has not the same kind
of importance as that of gesture signs, it possesses some peculiar
interest.