Human speech : a study in the purposive action of living matter / by N.C. Macnamara.

  • Nottidge Charles Macnamara
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Human speech : a study in the purposive action of living matter / by N.C. Macnamara. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    nervous matter of their brains have become developed, and consequently their intellectual capacities. In some of these animals masses of nervous matter exist in connection with their brains, which appear directly to control their intellectual capacities. The knowledge acquired from a study of the subjects above referred to is applied to explain the functions performed by the sense-organs, in conjunction with the nervous and muscular systems of the higher classes of animals, including man. The constant flow of energy received through the cephalic sense-organs stimulates the living substance of definite areas of the brain and leads to its structural and functional development, and in this way to modes of life adapted to promote the well-being of the organism as a whole. The reason why the words uttered by birds are almost meaningless is explained, and also why apes and certain idiots are unable to formulate any but rudimentary ideas, or to express their imperfect mental processes in articulate language. We are thus led step by step, through the aid of comparative biology, to realise the nature of the forces which have led to the gradual evolution of mental process, culminating in the power possessed by human beings of expressing their thoughts in intelligent speech. In conclusion, it is shown how knowledge regarding the properties and potentialities possessed by living matter can, with advantage, be employed to enable us to form sound ideas regarding the methods best cal-
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