The Speech of Monkeys

I have referred elsewhere, without describing it, to the sound which Nellie used for calling, and which she employed when attempting to dissuade my wife from going out and leaving her alone. It is a peculiar sound, something like a whine, but very plaintive and suggestive. I cannot represent it in letters. [Sidenote: THE CAPUCHIN TONGUE] There are many sounds about which I am yet in doubt, and some shades of meaning are not clear, but these sounds described include the greater part of my knowledge of the Capuchin tongue, and I shall now proceed to the sounds of some of the other monkeys. Standing on this frail bridge of speech, I see into that broad field of life and thought which lies beyond the confines of our care, and into which, through the gates that I have now unlocked, may soon be borne the sunshine of human intellect. What prophet now can foretell the relations which may yet obtain between the human race and those inferior forms which fill some place in the design, and execute some function in the economy of nature? A knowledge of their language cannot injure man, and may conduce to the good of others, because it would lessen man's selfishness, widen his mercy, and restrain his cruelty. It would not place man more remote from his divinity, nor change the state of facts which now exist. Their speech is the only gateway to their minds, and through it we must pass if we would learn their secret thoughts and measure the distance from mind to mind.