RECORD: Darwin, C. R. [1870-1871]. Draft of Descent, Ch. II, folio 34. CUL-DAR157.37. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 5.2023. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR157 consists of Darwin book draft leaves that were preserved by the family. The text of the draft corresponds to Descent 1: 56.
(34
Ch. II
triumph, & as a challenge to rivals. The voluntary imitation of the various diversified cadences would naturally imitation by articulate sounds of the diversified sounds, which were first produced as music or song might have given rise to words, expressive of many various complex complex emotions. As bearing on this whole subject imitation, the strong tendency to imitate in our nearest allies, the monkeys, in microcephalous microcephalous idiots *(27), & in most the barbarous barbarous races of mankind, to imitate everything which they see or hear deserves especial notice. As monkeys certainly understand much that is said to them by their keepers by man, & as in a state of nature they certainly utter warning crys signal cries of danger to their fellows *(28), it does not appear an quite incredible step, that some unusually intelligent ape ape-like animal with higher intellect than any existing ape, should have thought of imitating the growl growl of a panther a beast of prey, at the same time pointing in the direction where it lay concealed, so as to indicate to the [illeg] troop to the other monkeys the nature of the expected danger.
And this would undoubtedly be the first have been a first stage in the formation of a language.)
(As the voice was only gradually used more & more, used,
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 22 July, 2023