the ascendant race, animated with a
desire of interchanging their ideas, which became more and more
numerous, were prompted to multiply the means of communication, and were
no longer satisfied with mere pantomimic signs, nor even with all the
possible inflexions of the voice, but made continual efforts to acquire
the power of uttering articulate sounds, employing a few at first, but
afterwards varying and perfecting them according to the increase of
their wants. The habitual exercise of their throat, tongue, and lips,
insensibly modified the conformation of these organs, until they became
fitted for the faculty of speech.[798]

In effecting this mighty change, "the exigencies of the individuals were
the sole agents; they gave rise to efforts, and the organs proper for
articulating sounds were developed by their habitual employment." Hence,
in this peculiar race, the origin of the admirable faculty of speech;
hence also the diversity of languages, since the distance of places
where the individuals composing the race established themselves soon
favored the corruption of conventional signs.[799]

In conclusion, it may be proper to observe that the above sketch of the
Lamarckian theory is no exaggerated picture, and those passages which
have probably excited the greatest surprise in the mind of the reader
are literal translations from the original.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES--_Continued_.

Recapitulation of the arguments in favor of the theory of
transmutation of species--Their insufficiency--Causes of difficulty
in discriminating species--Some varieties possibly more distinct
than certain individuals of distinct species--Variability in a
species consistent with a belief that the limits of deviation are
fixed--No facts of transmutation authenticated--Varieties of the
Dog--the Dog and Wolf distinct species--Mummies of various animals
from Egypt identical in character with living individuals--Seeds and
plants from the Egyptian tombs--Modifications produced in plants by
agriculture and gardening.

The theory of the transmutation of species, considered in the last
chapter, has met with some degree of favor from many naturalists, from
their desire to dispense, as far as possible, with the repeated
intervention of a First Cause, as often as geological monuments attest
the successive appearance of new races of animals and plants, and the
extinction of those pre