We can hardly doubt that if humanity, with its proper cerebral constitution, had at the same time been unable to speak, the language of analytic gesture would, by the initiative of certain inventors, under press of necessity, and by the influence of co-operation and of life in common, have advanced beyond the imperfect phase at which it has remained; and no one can say what it might have become in the accumulated effort of centuries. Speech, too, had to traverse an embryonic period, and oral language developed slowly and painfully. At the same time it is an exaggeration to say that “phonetic language assumed its extraordinary importance almost by chance, and that we cannot doubt that the language of mimicry, had it been fashioned by social relations during secular ages, would be hardly inferior to speech in force, facility, and variety.”[40] In fact, man had originally two languages at his disposal; he used the one and the other interchangeably and simultaneously. They helped each other in the development of ideas that were as yet chaotic and vacillating. Under these conditions, speech prevailed; the language of gesture remained only as a survival or a substitute. There is nothing fortuitous in this: speech has won because of its greater value. First, for _practical_ reasons. And this is the capital factor, since the main point is to communicate with one’s fellow-men. The language of gesture—besides monopolising the hands, and thus keeping them from other work—has the great disadvantage of not carrying far, and of being impossible in the dark. To this we may add the reasons cited above: its vague character, and (with regard to the abstract) its imitative nature, which forbids emancipation, or complete detachment, from the concrete, or the translation of that which cannot be represented. It is to be remarked, however, that the invention of “reduced” signs seems to be a transition from pure imitation to symbolism, a first step in the path of emancipation. Speech, on the contrary, is transmitted to a distance, and challenges darkness. It is dependent upon the ear, an organ whose sensations are infinite in number and kind; and in the finest expression of ideas and of feelings, language participates in this opulence. It lends itself to variety, delicacy, to an extreme complexity of movement in a small space, with very little effort. We are, for the moment, citing physiological reasons only. But these will suffice to show that the triumph of speech has not been fortuitous, but that it is a very special case of natural supremacy.[41] In conclusion, there is nothing to add as to generic images, and the logic of images. The important part which they play amongst children and deaf-mutes testifies to their extension and importance as inferior forms of abstraction, without in any way altering their essential nature, as previously determined. CHAPTER II. SPEECH.