Besides the features of the face, we have another class of natural signs, indicative of mental emotions, in the ges tures and motions of the body. The knowledge of these, as well as of the former, must always be indispensable to the historical painter, the statuary, and the actor, and ought never to be neglected by the orator. In sadness and melan choly, the head is apt to sink, and the artns hang down ; in joy, the head is elevated ; in displaying pride, it is stiff and erect ; in contempt and indignation, its motions are quick and irregular ; in gaiety and merriment, the corners of the mouth are contracted, and in some degree raised, the cheeks rather drawn inward, and the muscles of the lower part of the countenance in A slight measure convulsed, which gives rise to laughter ; in admiration and surprise, the body is thrown back, and fixed seemingly immoveable in one posi tion; in fear, the arms are extended, the eyes opened wide, and the limbs often affected with tremulous and desultory movements. Ail these, and many other variations of ges ture, are the instantaneous and involuntary effects of pas sion. They may justly be said to be constituted by nature as interpreters of the feelings of the mind. This class of natural signs appears to be more susceptible of extended application than some of the others, and the extension and improvement of them has given rise to the art of panto nzime. The extent to which this art has often been carried, is very great. In ancient Rome,the exhibition of dramatic action, without the accompaniment of words, was a com mon amusement, and the audience were never at a loss to follow the action through all its parts. The modern pan tomimes, too, often exhibit both character and passion, by the medium of action and gestures alone, with a high de gree of accuracy. These exhibitions are unquestionably the productions of skill and art, but they are founded upon the natural signs of the inward feelings, manifested in the gestures and motions of the body. Were there no other means of communication, it is difficult to say to what per fection this class of signs might in time be brought. Sava ges, ignorant of each other's language, can thus make known their desires and feelings without difficulty ; and all of us have often witnessed the readiness with which dumb men can, upon occasion, adapt their gestures to the expres sion of their inclinations and wishes.
A third class of natural signs, expressive of our inward, feelings, is to be found in the instinctive modulation or tones of the human voice. These natural cries are uttered in voluntarily, even at the earliest period of life ; and at every age, when the feelings are strongly excited, they burst forth spontaneously, in spite of all artificial refinements, without design, and without regard to consequences. Joy, grief, suspicion, admiration, despair, exultation, hope, fear, and many other emotions, are thus manifested. These modu lations of the voice approach to, but arc by no means of the same nature with the articulate sounds which form the ma terials of artificial or conventional language. They are uttered only under the influence of passion or emotion ; they are taught by nature, and requite no instruction to ex plain their meaning. From their near relation to words, however, they have obtained a place in grammar, and are commonly stated as one el the parts of speech, under the denomination of interjections. They undoubtedly mingle
in all enipassioned discourse, and often contribute to the force and effect of eloquence ; still they can only be re garded as the natural and instinctive expressions of feeling. Among different nations, the number of those instinctive sounds, w hich still claim an occasional place amidst the use of conventional words, may vary, either from diGitio in ter shy of feeling, or It on the luller adaptation of words to the expression of passion; but in all lapguNges they do to a certain extent !main, occasionally etnployed by the ora tor. and ft equently bursting forth to indicate the strength of the internal feelings.
These various classes of natural signs might undoubt edly have served for carrying on sonic kind of intercourse in the rudest stages of human society ; but it cannot be disputed, that their application is extremely limited, and if man was ever to rise above the condition of mere ani mal existence, he must have a mean of communication more suited to his situation, and co-extensive with his ra tional faculties. Hence wises the necessity of employing a different and more enlarged class of signs, indicating not only feelings and passions, but thoughts and ideas, ob jects, actions, and relations ; a class of signs, in short, rising from natural and instinctive, to conventional and ar tificial language.
Conventional or Artificial Language The situation of man as a member of society, and his possession of powers and faculties as a rational being, ren dering a much inure extended and enlarged mode of com munication necessary for him, than could be accomplished by mere natural signs, an obvious question arises, What means the Author of our Being has furnished for the at tainment of an object so important to the great ends of human existence ? It is by no means inconceivable, that any one of the classes of natural signs, or instinctive ex pressions of thought, might have been adopted as the ground work of a more enlarged conventional language ; the fea tures of the face, or the gestures of the body, might per haps have been moulded into forms, to each of which, an arbitrary but determinate meaning might have been attach ed, and these, united with rude inarticulate cries, might have served to carry on sonic kind of intercourse among men. But how inadequate must all these, even in their most improved state, have beep, to answer the ends to which speech is subservient. All the variations of which they are susceptible, could mark only a few emotions, but by much the greater and more important subjects of thought and volition would have been beyond their reach. It be came necessary, then, that some other means of commu nication should be found to effectuate that intercourse upon which so much of human happiness and well being de pends. And such a mean of communication had been pro vided by the Divine Author of our nature. The human voice is so framed and constituted, as to he susceptible of articulate modulations in an almost endless vat iety, and the power of forming, at least to a certain extent, these modu hated sounds, is possessed by all men whose faculties are entire. In these articulate sounds, then, we find materials furnished by nature, and placed within the reach of all, which human ingenuity and industry can easily form, by the aid of experience, into a collection of conventional signs, lit to express every thought of the human mind.