The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1868-05-08
From the illustrated Times, Jan. 20.
The Gorilla"

appeared to be Il human skull set upon
pole; the curiosity of the traveller
was excited, and with considerable
trouble he obtained possession of the
idol, and forwarded il TO Professor Owen
for his opinion respecting the nature of
the animal of which it had once formed
u part. Professor owen decided that
the creature was altogether unrepresen-
ted by any specimen of natural history
known to the scientific world; and the
learned Professor embodied his views
on the subject in Il very interesting pa
per, which he read before the Zoologi-
cal Society. OF course, every body beg
ged TO differ from the conclusions to
which he had arrived, and there were
not few who ridiculed, as completely
fanciful, the drawing of the restored an
imal which the Professor had made
without any other information to guide
him than the structure of the skull. At
| length, after extraordinary exertions,
an animal was captured, and packed in
Il cask of spirits of wine, duly arrived
in this country few weeks since; and
| 1t is found to correspond closely with
the description of it by Professor owen.
The gorilla is a native of Western Af-
rica, and is known to exist, in very
large mum bers, in the Gaboon districts,
where they are among the most formid-
able of the wild animals of the forest.
The present specimen. which has been
most carefully skinned and preserved
by Mr.. Bartlett, under the direction Of
Professor Owen, is rather more than
five feet in height. 1t Is male, known
to be young by the state of his teeth
and the condition of the sutures of the
skull. In features the animal is very
much like negro, and the orbits over
the eyes are considerably projected. The
teeth are formed almost precisely as in
man and, unlike those of the monkey
chimpanzee, or ourang outang, they are
Of great strength. In the skull, which
was first sent over to this country, the
CANNES were nearly as large and rs
strong Us those of lion. The hair on
the upper part of the head of the goril-
la is Il reddish brown, upon the cheeks
the smooth hair is of Il grayish hue the
back is covered with dun or mouse-col
ored hair; the hair upon the arm from
the hand to the elbow is black, and it
grows upward from the hand toward
the elbow. The chest is nearly bare.
There We're thirteen wounds in the body
of the animal, and two bullets were eX-
tracted from it, one from wound
which had been long time healed over
The negroes of Africa live in constant
terror of these animals, which are gre
gariOus; and 1T is stated by the natives
cradle force, sack the villages, carry
away the young children and devour
them and, further, that they have
very ugly custom of attacking men,
and wrenching off the heads of those
whom they attack. If one Of the crea-
lures is fired at or attacked, the whole
tribe come down to the rescue, and es-
cape from the combined assault is i'm
possible. How far these statements
may he correct there is ut present no
means of knowing but ii is certain that
the gorilla is not Il vegetarian in his Z.
habits, and that he would have no scru- |
pie in devouring any flesh that might /
chance to come in his way.
a specimen is now in the British |
Museum, together with Il skeleton of |
an old male gorilla. \ few days since |
Professor Owen lectured before the Zoo |
logical Society on the external charac- /
tcristics Of the animal. He first called
attention to the shortncss. almost alb
sence, of neck ; to the great length of .
the cervical spincs, causing the nape"
TO project beyond the occiput :" to the
great size and elevation of the blade .
bones; and to the obliquc rising of the
colar-boncS above the level of the an
giles of the jaw. The brain-case was
low and narrow, and thick intcgu-
mcnt overlapping that ridge forms Il
scowling penthouse over the eyes. The |
nos" is more prominent than in the .
chimpanzcc or orang -Outang, not only |
ut its lower expanded part, but at its up
per half; the mouth is very wide, the
lips large, of uniform thickness, the !
upper one with Il straight margin, not |
showing the coIored lining membrane
when the mouth is shut the chin very
short and receding; the muzzle very
prominent; the oyclids with eyelashes
the eyes wider apart than in the oruug
or chimpanzee; the ears smaller in pro-
portion than in man, much smaller
than in the chimpanzec, but the struct- /
ure Of the aurice more like that of |
man. On direct front view of the |
face, the ears are on the same parallel |
with the eyes. The huge CANNES in |
the male givea most formidable aspect |
to the beast. The profile of the trunk |
describes Il slight conveXity, there be- |
ing no in-bending ut the ioins. The |
chest is of great capacity; the shoul- |
derS very wide across; the abdomen
somewhat prominent, both before
ana at the sides. The chief dcvintions
from the human structure were seen
in the limbs, which are of great power,
the upper ones prodigiously strong. A
uniform circumference prevails in the
forearm the leg increases in thickness
from below the knee to the ankle. These
characters Of the limbs are due to the
general absence of those partial muscular
engagements which impart the grace
ful varying curves to tho outlines of the
limbs in man. Vet they depended, the
Professor remarked, rather ON excess
than defect of development Of the car
neous AS compared with the tendinous
parts of the limb muscles, which thus
continued of almost the same size from
their origin to their insertion, with Il
proportionate gain of strength to the
beast. The difference in the length of
the upper limbs between the gorilla
and man is but little in comparison