The Speech of Monkeys

Having discovered the sign of negation among the Simians, I began an investigation to ascertain how far it could be found among the races of mankind. I have carried my search far beyond the limits of local inquiry, and up to this time I have found only a few trifling exceptions in the use of this sign among all the races of men, and those few exceptions are found among the Caucasian race, and appear to be confined to Southern Europe. I have heard that among certain island tribes of Polynesia these signs are reversed, but I have been assured by two officers of the English navy and two of the United States navy, who have visited the islands in question, that such is not the case. Among the Indians, Mongolians, and Negroes I have found no noteworthy exceptions. I have inquired among mothers who have raised families to ascertain when they first observed this sign as an expression among their children; and from the consensus of opinion it appears that this is about the first sign used by infants to express negation. [Sidenote: THE POSITIVE SIGN] I have not found the positive sign, or sign of affirmation, by a nod of the head, to be so general, yet it has a wide range within the human family, and appears to be used to some extent among the lower primates. Seeking a source from which these signs may have originated, I have concluded that they may arise from two circumstances. The negative sign doubtless comes from an effort to turn the head away from something which is not desired, and that with such an intent it has gradually crystallised into an instinctive expression of negation or refusal; while the nod of affirmation or approval may have grown out of the intuitive lowering of the head, as an act of submission or acquiescence, or from reaching the head forward to receive something desired, or they may have come from these two causes conjointly.