The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-07-19
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rs MAN ONLYAN IMPR0 HED MON
KEY.


London, June Z3,-Inls week Aroi'
Garrod held reception in the Monkey
House at the Geological Gardens, and dis
coursed to the people about the Anthro-
poid Apes AS professor OF the hoolog-
ical Society, the professor stated that he
had dissected seventy apes out OF the
anthropoidal class, and not one of them
exhibited the vermiform appendage OF
the cncum, or blind-gut which is char
octeristic of man. But the anthropoids
have it quite humanity developed. The
hands and feet of an ourang recently
dead were exhibited along with those of
a man, and exhibited the same structure.
The manners and customs Of gorillas
were described from authentic observa-
tions, and their domestic arrangements,
their sleeping hammocks and use OF
stones in cracking nuts increased the i'm
preston that this animal is very human
like indeed.
Prof Garrod showed that the structu'
raj resemblances between the anthro'
poid apes and man are so close that the
reason for the mental and moral condl-
tions remain still an unsolved problem.
Perhaps the most striking and important
norton of his discussion was that where
he proved that the vocal organs of man
are present also in the anthropoid ape.
THE ape does not converse, and yet
tbe difference between his vocal appara-
tins and that of man is 80 infinitesimal as
to defy observation.
Prof. Huxley declares that, to his
mind, the only thing that promises to
explain the mental difference between
the anthropoid ape and man is the phe-
nomenon of Language. Language implies
consultation. comparison of experience,
necessarily embodies itself in the written
form, becomes the storehouse OF facts, re
suits in inferenCes, and in the wisdom
which can control and modify nature,
where the dumb creature is controlled
and modified by nature By the power
. of an intelligent and purposed election
and combination so secured by the abll-
p itv TO talk, the animal so endowed might
gradually build up better brain on the
same structure as that possessed by an
. animal that could not talk If 1t should
be ultimately determined by physiolo-
Oists that there is absolutely no differ
ence between the vocal organs of the an
thropoid and man, refuge would have to
he taken in the hypothesis that there is
some point in the animal brain cores
ponding to the vocal power. which does
not exactly rhyme with the latter IN the
anthropoid, but does rhyme with 1t IN
man. This on assumption of the truth OF
Prof. Huxley's view of the enormous
mowers set in motion by the attainment
Of speech. A little reflection will show
that the probabilities are on the side OF
Prof. Huxleys view; and although Car
lvle has decided that "perhaps there is
not in nature more distracted phantasm
than your so-called eloquent speaker"
II is not unlikely to turn out that "talkee
talkee" is the sceptre of man on this
planet. The difference between the V!o-
cal chords in ordinary animals and IN
men may be compared to that between
a plain tube and the mouth-piece of a
fageolet. In proportion as one end OF
the tube is made smaller you may whls'
lie louder through it, and when it is al
most closed, as in the hageolet, you get Q
musical voice. The vocal chords, which
run parallel in animals, converge unit!
thew almost come in contact in man; and
Prof Garrod showed similar converg-
erce in the anthropoid ape. But the
entire organism is a region of the utmost
delicacy and fneness, and since the ex'
periments of Helmholz, one may under
stand that difference Of a hairs breadth
"a difference unobservable to the eye
might be represented by an entirely new
set of vibrations, and these might be the
very series which bridge the chasm be-
tween the animal chatter and articulate
speech.
It is possible that Mr.. Darwin in his
forthcoming biography of an Infant,
may throw some light on this general
subject. Ever since that careful investl.
gator and powerful reasoner published
his descent of Man." many, who before
had supposed that all embryonic chang
es ceased at birth, have been closely OBJ
serving the physical progress of their ba
bies. Mr.. Darwin's attention was drawn
some years ago to some carefully KEPT
observations Of the varying sounds and
cries which preceded the child's attain
ment of speech-the COO, the whine, the
hiss, and so on--and that the great evo
lutionist then thought the subject of i'm
portance, and a comparison OF similal
observations desirable. Commercial