to make selection from amongst the crowd of sensations by which he is assailed: from the ocean of the senses, so to speak, to select a single wave and consciously to watch it. He shows reflexion when, amidst the thronging chaos of images which pass before him as in a dream, he can in a waking moment collect himself and fasten his attention upon a single image, examine it calmly and clearly, and separate it from its neighbours. Once again, man shows reflexion when he is able not merely to grasp vividly and clearly all the properties of an image, but also to recognize one or more of its distinctive properties." The language of man "does not depend on the organization of the mouth, for even he who is dumb from birth has, if he reflects, a language; it is not a cry of the senses, since it resides in a reflective creature, not in a breathing machine; it is not an affair of imitation, since imitation of nature is a means, and we are here trying to explain the end: much less is it an arbitrary convention; a savage in the depths of the forest would have had to create a language for himself even though he never used it. Language is an understanding of the soul with herself, necessary just in so far as man is man."[73] Here language begins to show itself no longer as purely mechanical or as something derived from arbitrary choice and invention, but as a creative activity and a primary affirmation of the activity of the human mind. Herder's essay may not state such a view unequivocally, but it points forward to such a conclusion in a striking way for which its author has not received the credit he deserves. Hamann, in reviewing his friend's theories, agreed with him in denying the origin of language by invention or arbitrary choice; while dwelling also on the liberty of man, he regarded language as something which man could only have learned by means of a mystical _communicatio idiomatum_ from God.[74] That, too, was one way of recognizing that the mystery of language is not to be solved except by placing it in the forefront of the problem of the spirit. [1] Vico, _Opere, ed. cit._ iv. p. 305. [2] Herder, _Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanität,_ 1793-1797, Letter 59; Goethe, _Italien. Reise,_ Mar. 5, 1787. [3] Letters from Wolf to Cesarotti, June 5, 1802; in Cesarotti, _Opere,_ vol. xxxviii. pp. 108-112; cf. _ibid._ pp. 43-44, and vol. xxxvii. pp. 281, 284, 324; cf. on the question of the relations between Wolf and Vico, Croce, _Bibliografia vichiana,_ pp. 51, 56-58, and _Supplem._ pp. 12-14. [4] Letter in French to Mme. Ferrant (1719), and to the Marquis Maffei in _Prose e poesie,_ vol. ii. (1756), pp. lxxxv.-civ., cviii.-cix. [5] _Prose e poesie,_ vol. i., 1739, pref. [6] Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) was an Irishman. Croce's mistake is probably due to the fact that he studied and taught at Glasgow, or that his family was ultimately of Scottish origin.--TR. [7] _Prose e poesie,_ vol. ii. pp. clxxi.-clxxvii. [8] See above, pp. 184-185.