Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-08-31
The Gorilla.

THE Philadelphia Times described in
the following manner a gorilla on ex-
hibition at the Centennial show:
Those who have read Du Chaillu's
African Travels will be interested in
seeing the stuffed hide of the terrible
gorilla that was killed by the plucky
little Frenchman il an encounter
which he graphically describes. 1t is
exhibited with the Ohio Archaeological
Collection, in the mineral annex of the
Main Building. The exhibitor is the
Mount Union College, of Alliance,
Stark County, Ohio, for the museum
of which it was obtained at cost of
$4,000. When this formidable beast
was attacked by Du Chaillu and two
negroes he Wrenched the guns out of
the hands of the latter, bent them in
the shape of horseshoe, killed both
of the Africans, and then rushed to-
ward Du Chaillu, screeching horribly
and beating his breast with his fore
hands, as the gorilla always does when
enraged. The little Gaul, however.
finished his gorrillaship with a bullet
through the heart, the mark eff which
may be seen. This affair occurred on
the banks of the Gaboon River. in At
RIGA. The stuffed hide-generally
known in Centennial circles as DR..
Darwin stands erect, grasping with
one hand the limb of tree. Assm-
ing him to be still in the flesh, he
weighs over two hundred and fifty
pounds, and is an excellent specimen
of the nearest approach in the brute
kingdom to man, from whom, in out
ward appearance, he differs but little
except in the formation of the head,
the length of the arms and legs and in
being covered, except on the face and
palms, with dark brown hair, which
is long and bushy on the head, shorter,
but equally thick, on the arms, legs
and back, and very light and sparse on
the breast and the back of the hands.
His height is five feet eleven inches.
Belonging to the order of quadrumana,
he has four hands twice as large
and three times as powerful as
those of an ordinary man, from which
those on the arms do not differ in
form, while those on the legs are
shaped like mans foot, but have
longer digits and are used both as
hands and feet. The animal walks on
all fours as readily as on his legs only.
The legs are about six inches shorter
and the thighs much thinner than
those of an Ordinary-develOped man of
the same height as the gorilla. The
bones of the animal are, however, one
and half times as thick and strong
as those of such a man. The fist is a
veritable sledge-hammer, and the arm
hardly less than battering-ram. AS
he never carried a. pooket-knifa his I'm
ger nails appear to have been in mourn
ing since birth. The circumference of
his chest is fifty-four inches and that
of his waist about forty. When erect
his arms reach three inches below his
knees. 1t is in the head that his ami
NAL nature is mainly displayed. 1t is
twice as long as that of an ordinary
man, forming in the rear an almost
straight line with the back of his body.
The forehead is scarce half an inch
high, fat on top and receding almost
horizontally to the immense bump be-
hind. The upper half of the face is
fiat and square, the eyes being very
large, brown, glaring, about five inches
apart and located near the top and
sides of the face. The lower half is
the bump of a monkeys phisiognOmy,
chinless, but having mouth, the cor
ners of which are four inches apart in
a straight line, and nine if the meas
urement is made around the lips.
Where the social and intellectual
"bumps" are in man there is next to
nothing in the gorilla, although, cor
porally, he is only one step lower than
man. In spite of his great yawning
mouth, horrible grin and four i'm
1nense canine teeth, the ladies inspect
him with great interest.