(8

Chapt II.

 

with animals

The power of intercommunication, between the members of the same community, between the young & the old, & between the opposite sexes, is of the highest importance to many animals; & especially to those which are social. This is generally effected by means of the voice, but it is almost certain that gesture & expressions are mutually understood to a certain extent by animals. Man not only uses inarticulate cries, gesture & expression, but has invented articulate language; if indeed the word invention can be applied to a process, completed by innumerable steps, only half-consciously made. Anyone who has watched monkeys will not doubt that they perfectly understand each other's gestures & expression, & to a large extent, as Rengger asserts*(1), those of mankind. An animal when going to attack another or afraid of another, often makes itself appear terrible, by increasing the apparent bulk of its body, by the erection of its hair, by showing its teeth or brandishing its horns, & by uttering fierce sounds.)

 

[7]

[Draft of Darwin, C. R. 'Recollections of the development of my mind & character' [Autobiography [1876-4.1882] CUL-DAR26.1-121, pp. 85-90.]