James IV's experiment with two infants on a desert island in Walter Scott's “History of Scotland”
Walter Scott, in his "History of Scotland", describes an experiment of James IV, who sent two infants to an uninhabited island with a deaf-mute nurse, to find out which language is innate to man, and whether there is one at all. Besides the settlers, the island was inhabited by sheep, so when the children were taken off it several years later, they expressed their thoughts exclusively in shades of bleating and in gestures. The most interesting part is that there turned out to be people who maintained that, brought up by a deaf-mute woman and a flock of sheep, the children had nonetheless begun to speak a beautiful Hebrew. How do you like that?
