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, G.-H. (Guillaume-Hyacinthe), 1690-1743.
Date:
1739
Catalogue details

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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    Ï then refume my Example and my Argu¬ ment. If it is not by particular Inftin6t that Bea¬ vers make their little Settlements in fo much Concert, they then do it in confequence of their Knowledge. Now I have proved by the Suppo- fition of a whole Nation of People abfolutely Dumb, that a knowing Faculty without a reci¬ procal Communication by means of a fenfible and well-known Language, is not fufficient to main¬ tain Society, or to execute any Undertaking that requires Union and Concert. Let us then con¬ clude that, fince Nature, which always a£ls with io much Wifdom, has made the Beavers to live in Society : fhe has given them all the Means neceffary for that Purpofe, and of courfe the Fa¬ culty of Speaking, let their Language be what it will ; fince it is impoffible for any Society to lubfift without this Help. And as Nature every where follows the fame Rules, let us apply this Argu¬ ment to the Bees, the Ants, and all Kinds of Bealls that live in Society ^ and by that Means a confiderable Part of them mull be indowed with the Faculty of Speech. But can die fame Thing be faid of the Bealls which do not live in Society ? Such are the major Part of the Quadrupeds, the Birds, the Fifties, the Reptiles, which are undeniably the greater Number. I don’t know. Madam, whether you perceive the Confequence of the firft Step I have jull now ventured to make. For if there are any Bealls that fpeak, they mull of neceffity all of them Ipeak. If Beavers and Parrots have a Language, the Oyfter and Snail mull have theirs allb. Iam, as it were, engaged in a dangerous Defilee, all the Avenues of which are guarded by the ftrongell Prejudices. But in the Land of Syllems, as well as in others, the firft Step is often the only ' difficult