The Speech of Monkeys

[Sidenote: CONTOUR OF SOUNDS] Among other respects in which the vocal sounds of man and Simian resemble is in the contour of the sounds, which I have defined elsewhere. I have called attention to the fact that by reversing the cylinder of the phonograph and repeating the sound recorded thereon that a musical note or sound would repeat alike each way. Most of the sounds made by other animals do this, but those made by man and Simian alike show modulation, not, however, equally distinct. The notes of birds repeat alike both ways except their order is reversed. Again, to magnify the sounds as I have shown it can be done, allows you to inspect them, as it were, under the microscope, and this examination shows the contour of the sounds of these two genera to resemble. Dr. Alexander Melville Bell has shown, in his work on "Visible Speech," that the organs brought into use in the production and modification of sounds must work in harmony with each other; hence it is that by a study of the external forms of the mouth the movements of all the organs used in making any sound can be determined with such certainty that deaf-mutes can be, and have been, successfully taught to distinguish these sounds by the eye alone. And it was by such a method that I set out to read the temple inscriptions from the ruins of Palenque, some years ago, at which time I had not heard of Dr. Bell's learned and excellent work. The main feature of those glyphs, by which I was guided, was the outline of the mouth, which the artist had sought to preserve and emphasise at the cost of every other feature, and by this process I found to my satisfaction some ten or twelve sounds or phonetic elements of the speech used by these people; but not knowing the meaning of the sounds in that lost tongue, I did not attempt to verify them, but when I find the time to devote to them I believe I can accomplish that.