The Speech of Monkeys

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.