the process by which they were introduced may be easily conceived. For, the natural sign of assent is to throw the body open, by moving the hand from the breast with the palm towards the body, and the thumb uppermost. The natural sign of dissent is the same movement, with the back of the hand towards the body, and the little finger uppermost. The former conveys the idea of cordiality, of good humour, and of inviting frankness; the latter of dislike and aversion. If two dumb. persons were left to converse together, it is reasonable to suppose that they would gradually abridge their natural signs for the sake of despatch, and would content themselves with hinting at those movements, which could be easily anticipated from the commencement; and in this manner might arise those apparently arbitrary marks of assent and dissent, which have just been mentioned.

When different savage tribes have occasion to carry on any intercourse, whether friendly or hostile, with one another, the imperfections of natural signs will force them to call to their aid the use of such conventional signs as may be necessary to make themselves mutually understood; which conventional signs, when once introduced, will become permanent acquisitions to both parties. In this way it is easy to conceive how signs, the most capricious and arbitrary, may spread over such a continent as America, where the hunting grounds of some of the tribes are compared in point of extent to the kingdom of France. And, in fact, it would appear, from some late accounts, that, in the new world, there exists a sort of mute Lingua Franca by which the different tribes hold communication with each other.

In a very interesting, and (as may be presumed from the authority under which it is published1) a very authentic historical account of the Indian nations, we are given to understand that there actually exists a system of visible signs, intelligible wherever Indians are to be found, over the whole American continent. "The Indians," it is said, "have a language of

1 That of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia. See the

VOL. IV.

first volume of their Transactions, p. 116. Phil. 1819.

B

signs, by which they communicate on occasions when speaking is not prudent or proper, as, for instance, when they are about to meet an enemy, and by speaking they would run the risk of being discovered. By this means they also make themselves understood to those nations of Indians whose language they are not acquainted with, for all the Indian nations understand each other in this way. It is also, in many cases, a saving of words, which the Indians are much intent on, believing that too much talking disgraces a man. When, therefore, they will relate something extraordinary in a few words, they make use of corresponding signs, which is very entertaining to those who listen and attend to them, and who are acquainted both with the language and the signs, being very much as if somebody were to explain a picture set before them."

In a still more recent American publication,' we are presented with a specimen of the visible and conventional signs used by the Indians. From the list, which occupies a good number of pages, it may suffice to select a few examples.

1. "Sun.-The forefinger and thumb are brought together at tip, so as to form a circle, and held up towards the sun's track. To indicate any particular time of the day, the hand with the sign of the sun is stretched out towards the east horizon, and then gradually elevated, to show the ascent of that luminary, until the hand arrives in the proper direction to indicate the part of the heavens in which the sun will be at the given time."

2. "Night or Sleeping.-The head, with the eyes closed, is laterally inclined for a moment upon the hand. As many times as this is repeated, so many nights are indicated ;2 very

1 Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and 1820, by order of the Secretary of War: compiled from the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, &c., by Edwin James. Published 1823.

From the account of James Mitchell, a boy born blind and deaf, (printed in

the seventh volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,) it appears that the same sign is employed by Miss Mitchell for the same purpose, in her communications with her unfortunate brother, and that he interprets its meaning readily. [See after.]

This vocabulary of the mute Lingua Franca, by which the savages of differ

frequently the sign of the sun is traced over the heavens, from east to west, to indicate the lapse of a day, and precedes the motion."

3. "Combat.-The clenched hands are held about as high as the neck, and five or six inches asunder, then waved two or three times laterally, to shew the advances and retreats of the combatants; after which the fingers of each hand are suffered to spring from the thumb towards each other, as in the act of sprinkling water, to represent the flight of missiles."

These facts seem to me to be not only curious, but to form a new and not unimportant accession to the Philosophy of the Mind. They illustrate, in a very striking manner, the instinctive propensity in our species to communicate their ideas to each other; and the variety of expedients (some of them by no means obvious) to accomplish this end, which necessity suggests to man even in his rudest state. The existence of an artificial language, consisting of visible signs, intelligible among all the Indian nations spread over the American Continent, is a fact which I do not recollect to have met with in any prior account of these interesting communities; and, if duly reflected on, may serve to diminish our wonder at the invention of oral speech,—an art to which many philosophers of high name have affirmed that the human faculties would have been altogether incompetent, without an express revelation for the purpose. Surely the ingenuity displayed in these visible signs is at least equal to what is requisite for giving audible names to surrounding objects, and for some of the succeeding steps in the

ent tribes hold intercourse with each other, may serve to illustrate a remark of Court de Gebelin in his Monde Primitif.

"Rien ne seroit plus aisé que de composer une grammaire du geste, et un dictionnaire du geste. C'est ce qu'avoient assez bien apperçu les religieux de l'ordre de Citeaux qui, vers la fin du seizième siècle, convinrent d'un certain nombre de signes pour leur tenir lieu de la parole: ils l'attachèrent le plus qu'ils

purent à les rendre imitatifs. Un doigt contre l'oreille, signifioit chez eux ouir; ôté de dessus l'œil, voir; pour l'opposé c'étoit l'action de fermer ces deux organes. Recevoir, c'étoit fermer la main; donner, c'étoit l'ouvrir. Se baigner, c'étoit passer sur la poitrine la main creuse, comme si elle contenoit de l'eau. La gorge serrée par la main désignoit la cessation de vie."-Monde Primitif, tome iii. pp. 106, 107.

formation of speech. The truth of this position will, I hope, be still more clearly evinced by some of the following speculations.

SECTION II,-OF ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE.

It was before remarked, that, as ideas multiply, the imperfections of natural language are felt, and men find it necessary to invent artificial signs, of which the meaning is fixed by mutual agreement. Dumb people, who associate much together, soon invent a language of their own, consisting of visible signs; and the same thing happens in those convents and boardingschools, where a severe discipline prevents a free communication by means of ordinary speech.

Artificial signs may be divided into the visible and the audible. To the former class belong those signals by fire, which were so much in use among the ancients. The Greeks are even said to have invented a method of expressing, by the number and arrangement of torches, every letter of the alphabet, so that a guard on one eminence could converse with another at a distance, by spelling his words. A full and curious description of this method may be found in Polybius.

Another instance of a visible language occurs in that system of signals which is said to have been introduced into the British navy by James II.; and in the still more recent invention of the telegraph,—a contrivance which has been found to admit of a far more extensive and important application than could have been anticipated a priori; and which is probably still susceptible of farther improvements, tending to enlarge and accelerate the mutual intercourse of mankind.

If men had been destitute of the organs of speech, or of the sense of hearing, there can be no doubt that they might have contrived, by means of an alphabet of visible signs, to express all their ideas and feelings; as we see done by school-boys, who, for their amusement, denote the different letters by certain conformations and movements of the fingers. Such a language,

however, is attended with great inconveniences. It is useless in the dark, or when the person we are conversing with is removed to a considerable distance: nor does it enable us to call his attention, if his eye should happen to be otherwise engaged. To this may be added, that it is not susceptible of that rapidity which is necessary for the purposes of life. In all these respects, audible signs possess important advantages, more particularly in the last, in consequence of the wonderful adaptation of our powers of articulation to the perceptive powers of the human ear, an organ, we may remark in passing, which is always open to the reception of sounds. It has been found that two thousand letters, when combined into words, may be pronounced in a minute of time, so that the sound of each letter may be distinctly heard.1 The infinite variety of modifications of which the voice is capable, enable us to add, in some measure, the expressiveness of natural signs to the conventional meaning of arbitrary words; while its musical modulations render language a vehicle of pleasure as well as information.

Among all nations, accordingly, audible signs form the established medium of intellectual communication, and the materials (as indeed the etymology of the words denotes) of what is commonly called LANGUAGE or SPEECH;—a wonderful art, infinitely diversified in the principles on which it has proceeded in different instances, and admitting of all possible degrees of perfection, from the uncouth jargon of a savage tribe, to the graces of which the most cultivated languages are susceptible, in the hands of the orator or the poet.

To this subject the attention of speculative men, both ancient and modern, has been directed in a singular degree, and many ingenious conclusions have been the result of their labours. The subject is indeed of vast extent, and with peculiar propriety may be said, in the words of Mr. Burke, "to branch out to infinity." To attempt to enumerate the various aspects under which it has been viewed by different authors, would be tedious and useless; but a few of them seem necessarily to fall under our plan, on account of their close connexion 1 Dr. Gregory's Conspectus Medicina Theoretica.