A philosophical amusement upon the language of beasts / Written originally in French. By Father Bougeant ... , now confined at La Fleche on account of this work.
- Bougeant, père, 1690-1743. Amusement philosophique sur le langage des bêtes
- Date:
- 1739
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A philosophical amusement upon the language of beasts / Written originally in French. By Father Bougeant ... , now confined at La Fleche on account of this work. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[ 5+ ] Gbferve, Madam, that this Simplicity or Steri¬ lity in the Language of Beads, will appear dill lefs defective to you, if you confider that its Imperfection is replaced by Miens, Gedures, and Motions, which are a JSnd„ of Language very intelligible, andi a Supplement df the Vocal Expreffion. A Dog for Indance, has no vocal Expreffion to ask Pardon when he finds you are angry with him ; but what does he do r Why he humbles himfelf before you * he cringes at your Feet in the Podure of a Supplicant. He hag no Phrafe to lay open me the Door ; but Be feratches at it, and thereby informs you of his wanting to come in or go out. Are not thefe {peak¬ ing Actions ? Even fo; fince they make them- Hives well underdood. This would be the Place, as the vulgar Proverb fays, to make a Com mem tary upon the Grimaces of Monkeys. For it is beyond all Quedion, that if among thefe Gri¬ maces there are fome which are no more thaq meer Contorfions, there are on the other Hand fome which are fo many Exp refilons fully equiva¬ lent to Words and Phrafes. But do I not take too much Advantage, by thus alledging on the one Hand the Example of Birds which are really great Talkers/ and on the other Hand that of Dogs and Monkeys which arc full ôf Gediçulation, while there are befides thefe fo many other Species of Beads, which have very few or even no vocal Exprefiions at all, and. m which we moreover obferve none of the above Gedures or fpeaking Aidions ? No ; I intended not to dififemble any thing. If I have propofed. thefe Examples, it is meerly becaufe thofe Beads living amongdus, we know them much better than the other Species, and becaufe we mud always argue from the mod fenfible Examples,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30376166_0062.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
