The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-11-13
Chimpanzees.


A male chimpanzee, which was kept in
the Berlin Aquarium in 1876, was remark.
able for his excessive liveliness, and was on
particularly friendly terms with little two
year-old boy, the son of DIR. Hermes, the
director of the aquarium When the child
entered the room, the chimpanzee ran to
meet him, embraced him and kissed him,
seized his hand and drew him to the sofa,
that they might play together. The child
was often rough with his playfellow, pull
ing him by the mouth, pinching his ears,
OF lying on him, yet the chimpanzee was
never known to lose his temper. He be-
haved very differently to boys between six
and ten years old. When a number Of
schoolboys visited the Office, he ran towards
them, went from one to the other, shook
one of them, bit the leg of another, seized
jacket of third with the right hand
jumped up, and with the left gave him a
sound box on the ear. In short, he played
the widest pranks. 1t seemed as if he
were affected with the joyous excitement
of youth, which induced him to riot with
the troop of schoolboys.
One day, when DR.. Hermes gave his
nine -year-old son slight tap on the head
for some blunder in his arithmetic, the
chimpanzee, who was also sitting at the
table, thought it his duty likewise to show
his displeasure, and gave the boy sound
box on the ear. If, again, DIR. Hermes
pointed out to him that some one was
staring or mocking at him, and said "Dc
not put up with it, the creature cried
"Ol Or and rushed at the person il
question, in order to strike or bite him, OIL
express his displeasure in some other way
When he saw the director was writing, he
often seized pen, dipped it in the ink
stand and scrawled upon the paper. He
displayed a special talent for cleaning the
window-panes of the aquarium. 1t wai
amusing to see him squeezing up the cloth
moistening the pane with his lips, and ther
rubbing it hard passing quickly from ont
place to another.
OF a female chimpanzee, Massica by name
kept in the Dresden geological Gardens
some extraordinary things are told. She
was remarkable creature, lot only in hel
external habits, but in her disposition
She was frequently ungovernable. She
hardly obeyed anyone except Schopf, the
director of the garden; and when in good
humor, she would sit on his knee and put
her muscular arm around his neck with a
caressing gesture; but, in spite of this, he
was never quite secure from her roguish
tricks. She was able to use a spoon
though somewhat awkwardly; and she
could pour from larger vessels into smaller
ones without spilling the liquor. If she
was left alone for any time, she tried to
open the lock of her cage, and she once
succeeded in doing so, but on that occasion
she stole the key. 1t was kept hanging on
the wall, and she, observing it, took it
down, hid it in her armpit, and crept quietly
back to her cage. When the occasion
served her purpose, with the key she easily
opened the lock and walked out She also
knew how to use a gimlet, to wiring out
wet clothes, and to blow her nose with a
handkerchief. If allowed to do so she
would draw off the keepers boots, then
scramble with them up to some place out
of reach, and when he asked for them throw
them at his head, She, like the clever
gorilla before described, died of consump-
ton. When her illness began she became
apathetic, and looked about with vacant
unobservant stare. Just before her death
she put her arms around Schopf's neck
when he came to visit her, looked at him
placidly, kissed him three times, stretched
out her hands to him and died. The last
moments of anthropoids, remarked ouI
author, have their tragic side.
Professor Hartmann observes that Hux
ley's statement, that the lowest apes are
further removed from the highest apes
than the latter are from men, is according
to his experience, still perfectly valid. Il
cannot denied that the highest order Of
the animal world is closely connected witt
the highest created being"