The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-03-16
Chimpanzees.

THE lately-lamented Pongo, whom
Mr.. Darwin travelled 200 miles to see,
and then was compelled to dissatisfy
himself by simply leaving his card for,
need be missed no longer. The chin
panzees in the Aquarium are of no more
value than many gorillas, and they will
never hug their fellow-man to death, as
a Bowery gorilla is wont to do, nor
carry off beautiful frightened maiden
to their lair. They are about two feet
long, weigh nearly twenty pounds each,
and are supposed to be three years old.
When full grown they will be five feet
long. Their faces, hands and feet have
mild mulatto flesh color, and their
bodies are covered with coarse black
hair, two or three inches in length.
The height of their foreheads is one
inch; their eyes are round and hazel
brown; their noses are well-nigh fiat;
their jaws are as prominent as some ne
groes' jaws, their teeth resemble the
teeth of vhildren, their ears are large
and hairless. They laugh, and grin,
and pout, and put their fingers in their
mouths and look silly. Their prevail
ing expression is one of sadness, not I'M
mixed with satisfaction. One of them,
the male, is not at all well, having a
slight cough, night sweats and an i'm
paired appetite, and being threatened
with pulmonary consumption. Like
his mate he came from Congo. Africa,
and is the first importation of the sort
to this country.
"You will see,' said the superin-
tendent this morning, that they differ
somewhat from gorillas. The gorilla
has black face, but the chimpanzee a
tlesh-colored one; the gorilla has larger
arms, and, when full grown, a larger
brain and facial angle" Here the
female chimpanzee stuck her tongue
out and then put her finger in her
mouth. but BOTH" continued the
speaker, have protruding, negro lips.
The gorilla's fore finger and third fin
ger are partly united, but the chimpan-
zee's fingers are all as distinct as a
mans. A chimpanzee will point with
his forehnger." Here the female Chin
panzee assumed an incredulous ex-
preston and buried her face in a
blanket
"What do you feed them with?''
"With what babies get" he replied;
"with milk, biscuits, and so on
The resemblance between the Great
ures and human beings was constantly
on the perintendent's lips. This man
is a Darwinian of the first water. He
eXpatiated fondly upon the structure of
the females foot, showing that though
her great toe was perhaps abnormally
developed, yet that the foot was real
foot and could not truthfully be called
a hand. Il threw he said, ga bis
cult into her cage the other day Ii
was a little difficult of access, but she
scratched for it until she got it. The
next day showed her another biscuit.
What did she do but go to the very
same spot and search again! The asso-
citation of ideas, you see; the genuine
working of the BRAIN
"Come here, Wallie," he exclaimed,
going to the other end of the cage, and
addressingwhat he takes to be his cousin
Off she scampered on her knuckles and
feet. He held his watch in his hand
and she had been attracted by it, Then
| opening the door, he extended his arms
to her; she jumped into them and threw
her arms about his neck. "They are
affectionate creatures" he observed
They don't like to be alone
When they laugh, it needs only g
more perfect facial expression to make
the act seem human; when they grin
they stretch their mouths not quite from
ear to ear; when they are displeaseG
they pucker and push out their lips as
children sometimes do. The superin
tendent is doctoring his consumptive
patient, but he declined to tell what
medicines he is using, because every
doctor who reads what you write will
think that another remedy might have
been a better one" Meanwhile, the
sick chimpanzee, with deeply-pathetic
wo-begone expression, was cuddled tC
his keepers breast. He cannot talk
but he keeps up a deal of thinking
n. y Post.