Blair Collection > Celtic researches, on the origin, traditions & language, of the ancient Britons

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their hands and feet; therefore it cannot be natural for man
to be upright.
But, as great stress has been laid upon the case of two
savages, — the Saxon, and French, it may not be improper to
bestow some attention upon their story. They are described
as having been deserted, in the forests, by some accident,
in their earhest infancy. When found, they had almost
attained manhood. They had lived unconnected with so-
ciety, and consequently, had formed their habits, with a
perfect independence of its controul. They Avere taught, —
by their masters, — to sit, stand, and walk upon two feet; but
their favorite gait, was quadrupedal. They could nei-
ther speak, at first, nor be taught, afterwards, to articulate.
Hence it has been inferred, that man can have no primitive
language, and that all articulation is, with difficulty ac-
quired^ even by the ear.
If the facts, as they are stated, are true, the conse^
quences, drawn from them, will not follow\ An unpro-
tected infant, exposed alone to the horrors of a forest,
could only have acquired sufficient language, to express the
ideas, \vhich arose from his insulated situation. What
could the wretched being have to utter, more than a pierc-
ing cry of distress, groans of anguish, or screams of terror,
and growls of rage ì Even these, he had no opportunity,
and, therefore, could have had no incitement, ever to com-
municate amongst others of his own species. When deprived
of his usual range, and confined amongst men, he had still
his inveterate, and savage, habits about him, which it was im-
possible for him to overcome. He could not, therefore,
have been disposed, by habits, to acquire the language of
society. His case must have been widely different, from
^hat of the first parents, whose dawn of existence was in