A. H. Sayce

“ A child employs intelligent gestures long in advance of speech, although very early and persistent attempts are made to give it instruction in the latter but none in the former; it learns language only through the medium of signs; and long after familiarity with speech, consults the gestures and facial expressions of its parents and nurses as if to translate or explain their words. ”

“ It is only when these facts haye all been gathered in that it will be possible to reconstruct that primitive speech of mankind which preceded articulate utterance, which formed the bridge to spoken language, and expressed the earliest thought of the human race. ”

“ The signs used by uninstructed congenital deaf-mutes and the facial expressions and gestures of the congenitally blind also present considerations under the heads of 'heredity' and 'atavism,' of some weight when the subjects are descended from and dwell among people who had disused gestures for generations, but of less consequence in cases such as that mentioned by Cardinal Wiseman of an Italian blind man who, curiously enough, used the precise signs made by his neighbors. ”

“ In conclusion, aid and suggestions are asked from all interested in the subject, or who are in actual contact with savage and barbarous tribes. A list of words is appended for which the corresponding signs are wanted, those of chief importance being marked by an asterisk. We hope that the ethnographical department of the Smithsonian Institution will meet with all the assistance in this undertaking to which it is entitled. There must be many observers among the uncivilized races of the Old World or in schools for deaf-mutes who have many facts of interest and value to contribute. ”

“ It is therefore all the more satisfactory to find that the subject has at last been taken up in America, where special opportunities still exist for collecting materials, notwithstanding the rapid decrease in the native population that seems to have been going on of late years. ”