The Speech of Monkeys

[Sidenote: CONCLUSION] In conclusion, I may say that man as he now is has the faculty of speech. It is reasonable to believe that he has always had this faculty since he was man. If there has ever been a time in the history of his organism when he acquired his being from some progenitor which was not man, he acquired at the same time the faculty of speech, and that progenitor did not impart a thing which he did not have. While it is true that speech, as I have used it, is confined to vocal sounds, other modes of expression have preceded it, and such has been a common faculty inherent through all forms and planes of life. I am aware that two ingredients combined may make a compound unlike either one, and such may be the case with speech, but the elements which constitute the compound must have been for ever present.