The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-28
MANS POOR RELATIONS.
THE FROG AND THE MONKEY
OUGHT TO BE so REGARDED.
The Wonderful Likeness Between the
Batrachian and the Human Being.
Frogs that Were as Big as Men-The
Ape Morally and Mentally Con-

Frogs that Were as Big as Men-The
Ape Morally and Mentally Con-
sidered.
From the Washington Star.
''The most interesting thing about a
frog" said the professor of anatomy, "is
its extraordinary structural resemblance to
the human being. If you had an oppor-
tunity Of comparing the two by dissection,
you would not be astonished at the notion
which many Psychologists have expressed,
that man and the batrachian were actually
cousins. derived from the same original
ancestry. Incidentally, you would observe
that Mr.. Frog is very high up in the scale of
development that runs from the bivalvular
oyster to the genus homo. You would find
that the arrangement and formation of his
bones and muscles are pretty much the
same as in man, and even the swimming
| bladder which he makes use of in his
habitual natatory exercise would be diScov-
cred also in the human animal"
''Do you mean TO say that | have a swim
ming-bladderp asked the reporter, in sur
prise.
Undoubtedly; though, of course, it has
become rudimentary, owing to the want of
use; but the bare fact of its existence in
every human being proves incontestably
that swimming creature figured at some
remote period in the ancestry of the race,
though how or when will probably never be
reasonably surmised. There is one physi-
cal characteristic, however, which alone en-
titles the frog to an elevated status in crea-
ton; he has thumb. For is it not to the
possession Of & thumb that man owes his
elevation above the brutel With no more
thumb than monkey, he would never have
been able to make anything-or, in other
words, to construct any product represent
ing an idea-and he would have remained,
to all intents and purposes, a beast.
Apropos of the subject we are talking
about, take 1t that no reasonable pers)n
devoid of prejudices, religious or otherwise,
can look upon the mere skeletons of man
and chimpanzee, side by side, without
having forced upon him the conviction that
such likeness of structure could only be
accounted for by unity of derivation"
A FROG OR A MONKEY.
Which, then, do you claim that your
greatest grandfather was, a monkey or a
frog~
Young man, that is a foolish question,
implying strange ignorance. Mr.. Darwin
did not teach, as is vulgarly supposed, that
the human kind is descended from the ape;
his theory, which is still held by nearly all
scientific men, was, that ape and man came
How else, d ay, are you going to account
for the similarity in almost every detail of
their makeup? There is, in reality, no
missing link between the two; rec 9nt ex-
plorers ia Africa have discovered whole
peoples, actually human and many of them
llviag altogether in trees, which exhibited
few differences il their habits or otherwise
from the monkey tribes Stanley Africanus
brought back to England while ago few
skulls of the so-called 'Soko' monkey, which
howlS horribly at night in the vast forests
of the central continent and is much hunted
for and killed as food by the natives. And
yet these same specimen Soko skulls were
declared by British ANTAGONISTS to be I'M
questionably human"
A COUSIN ONLY.
And the frog"
1.-THE frog | recognize as cousin, too. He
is very agreeable relative-especially
broiled. 1t is not because we have an
amphlblous greatest grandfather in COM
mon, however, that respect him most; but
for the reason that he has contributed so
largely to scientific research. In fact. the
likeness he bears to the human species has
been great misfortune to him. On ac-
count of it, the experimental in physiology
is continually trying to find out what he
can do without his brain, or his legs, or his
| iusides. The demonstration of ANATOMY cuts
| his muscles, or the circulation of his blood,
while the expert in toxicology tries the
effects of all sorts Of poisons upon him.
aud, when he has finally succumbed and
| gwen up the ghost, the electrician applies
the galvanic battery to his stiffening
limbs. to make him do a corpse dance. You
remember, dare say, that Calvin owed his
wonderful discovery to frog, whose
skinned hind legs, prepared for soup, lay
| beside an electrical machine at which the
| inventor was working. By accident, he
| touched the legs with the end OF wire
along which a powerful current was pass
ing, and they Immediately became frau
tically convulsed. Hence the development
| of galvanism."
Can frog get along at all. then, with
out his brain"
AN AUTOMATIC EXISTENCE.
| Exceedingly well. l saw frog the
other day that seemed to be in most excel
lent physical condition, though its cerebral
lobeS had been in alcohol since last March.
1t had tirst-rate appetite. swallowing
| minnows that were given it with the ut
most readiness, and, although it rarely
moved, for the obvious reason that it was
not in condition to think about moving
preliminarily, it could not very we'll have
any mental anxieties, and appeared likely to
preserve sort of automatic existence for
an indefinite period. Whether it could
sleep or reproduce its kind were points not
yet determined, the owner of the frog told
me. If this can be done with frog, it
should be practicable also with a human
Icing. To person who could afford the
luxury, with nothing to occupy his atten-
ton beyond the pursuit of elegant leisure.
it might appear highly desirable to dis
pense with his brain in this way. He would
have no worries or disagreeable impressions:
he could enjoy the pleasures of the table
as before; his valet could attend to his APP
parel and take him around in a cab, and
lnasmuch as the chief muscular effort ex-
ercised by my friends frog was to wink
with one eye-it see is to me very likely
that the pleasures of filtration would still
be available to him. -
1.-The frog is cold-blooded animal, is he
notg"
"Yes; but on the other hand he is exceed
lngly atfectionate, and his heart is agitated
by such strong emotions that it continues to
beat for seven or eight minutes after it has
been detached from his body. There are
about forty species of frogs in existence.
The largest is the "bellowern of the
Louisiana swamps, which frequently grows
to three or four pounds weight, and the
smallest Is the tree frog. But the bellower
is nothing at all to the monstrous croakers
that peopled the slime of the primeval
earth; only century ago one of these was
dug up, petrlhed, of slch a size that it was
taken by natural philosopher OF reputa-
ton to be the body of an antediluvian