While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Emotional expression in the features of man is to be
considered in reference to the fact that the special senses
either have their seat in, or are in close relation to the
face, and that so large a number of nerves pass to it from
the brain. The same is true of the lower animals, so that it
would be inferred, as is the case, that the faces of those
animals are also expressive of emotion. There is also
noticed among them an exhibition of emotion by corporeal
action. This is the class of gestures common to them with
the earliest made by man, as above mentioned, and it is
reasonable to suppose that those were made by man at the
time when, if ever, he was, like the animals, destitute of
articulate speech. The articulate cries uttered by some
animals, especially some birds, are interesting as connected
with the principle of imitation to which languages in part
owe their origin, but in the cases of forced imitation, the
mere acquisition of a vocal trick, they only serve to
illustrate that power of imitation, and are without
significance. Sterne's starling, after his cage had been
opened, would have continued to complain that he could not
get out. If the bird had uttered an instinctive cry of
distress when in confinement and a note of joy on release,
there would have been a nearer approach to language than if
it had clearly pronounced many sentences. Such notes and
cries of animals, many of which are connected with
reproduction and nutrition, are well worth more
consideration than can now be given, but regarding them
generally it is to be questioned if they are so expressive
as the gestures of the same animals. It is contended that
the bark of a dog is distinguishable into fear, defiance,
invitation, and a note of warning, but it also appears that
those notes have been known only since the animal has been
domesticated. The gestures of the dog are far more readily
distinguished than his bark, as in his preparing for attack,
or caressing his master, resenting an injury, begging for
food, or simply soliciting attention. The chief modern use
of his tail appears to be to express his ideas and
sensations. But some recent experiments of Prof. A. Graham
Bell, no less eminent from his work in artificial speech
than in telephones, shows that animals are more physically
capable of pronouncing articulate sounds than has been
supposed. He informed the writer that he recently succeeded
by manipulation in causing an English terrier to form a
number of the sounds of our letters, and particularly
brought out from it the words "How are you, Grandmamma?"
with distinctness. This tends to prove that only absence of
brain power has kept animals from acquiring true speech. The
remarkable vocal instrument of the parrot could be used in
significance as well as in imitation, if its brain had been
developed beyond the point of expression by gesture, in
which latter the bird is expert.
The gestures of monkeys, whose hands and arms can be used,
are nearly akin to ours. Insects communicate with each other
almost entirely by means of the antennae. Animals in general
which, though not deaf, can not be taught by sound,
frequently have been by signs, and probably all of them
understand man's gestures better than his speech. They
exhibit signs to one another with obvious intention, and
they also have often invented them as a means of obtaining
their wants from man.
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materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or
language of a particular period or place. These items are presented as
part of the historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that
the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes implied.
Sign Language
Among North American Indians Compared with
that Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes,
1881
