Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-19
MANKIND's POOR RELATIONS.
The Frog and The Monkey Ought Prop
erly To BE So Regarded.


sHE WONDERFUL LIKENESS BETWEEN THE BA-
TRACHIAN AND THE HUMAN BEING-FRoGs THAT
WERE As BIG As NES--THE APE MORALLY AND
MENTALLY CONSIDERED.
''The most interesting thing about frog.
eaid the professor OF anatomy. 'is its extraordi-
nary structural resemblance to the human being.
fyou bad an opportunity OF comparing the two
by dissection, you would not be astonished at
the notion which many psychologists have ex-
pressed, that man and the batrachian were actu-
ally cousins, derived from the same original an
cestry. Incidentally. you would observe that
Mr.. Frog Is very high up In the scale of develop
ment that runs from the bivaivuar oyster to
the genus homo. You would find that the ar
rangement and formation of his bones and
muscles are pretty much the same as In man,
ana even the swimming bladder which he makes
use OF In his habitnal natatory exercise would
be discovered also in the human animal"
DO you mean to say that have swimming
oladderF asked the STAR reporter. In surprise.
Undoubtedly; though, of course 1t has be-
come documentary owing to want of use; but
the bare fact of its existence In every human be-
Ing proves inc0ntestaby that a swimming crea-
ture figured at some remote period in the an
eestry OF the race, though how or when will
probably never be reasonably surmised There
Is one physical characteristic. however. which
alone entities the frog to an elevated status in
creation; he has thumb. For is IT not to the
possession of thumb that man owes his eleva-
ton above the brute, With no more thumb
than a monkey, he would never have been able
to make anything-Or. in other words. to con-
etruct any product representing an idea-and he
would have remained, to all intents and pur-
poses beast. ApropOs of the subject we are
talking about, / take 1t that no reasonable per-
son. devoid Of preudices, religious or otherwise,
can look upon the mere skeletons of a man and
. chmpanZee, side by side. without having
forced upon him the conviction that such like
pess OF structure could only be accounted for by
unity Of derivation"
HOG OR MONKEY
(which, then, do you claim that your greatest
grandfather was, a monkey or a frog?"
young man, that is q foolish question, i'm
plying strange ignorance. Mr.. Darwin did not
teach, as Is vulgary supposed, that the human
Kind Is descended from the ape; his theory.
which Is still held by nearly all scientific men,
was that Ape aud Man came from the same pri-
mary ancestral source. How else pray, 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; recent
explorers In Africa have discovered whole peo-
pies, actually human and many of them living
altogether In trees, which exhibited few differ
ences In their habits or otherwise from the mon
key tribes. Stanley Africanus brought back to
''Soko" monkey, which bowls 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
unquestionably human"
A COUSIN ONLY.
"And the frog?"
s'The frog recognize as a cousin, too He is
o very agreeable relative-especally broiled.
L. haoa -
est grandfather In common however that I
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 spe-
ces has been a great misfortune to him. On
account OF 1t, the experimenter in HISTOLOGY is
continually trying to ind out what he can do
without his brain, or his legs. or his insides
The demonstration of anatomy cuts him up to
show the beautiful structure of his muscles or
the circulation Of his blood, while the expert
In toxicOlogy tries the effects OF all sorts of poi
sons upon him. and, when he has finally sue
cumbed and given 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 powerful
current was passing, and they immediately be-
came frantically CONFUSED Hence the develop
ment Of galvanism.'
Can frog get along at all; then, without his
brain?"
AN AUTOMATIC EXISTENCE.
Exceedingly WELL l saw frog the other
day that seemed to be in most excellent physical
condition, though its cerebral lobes had been in
alcohol since last March. 1t had first-rate an
petite, swallowing mnnows that were given it
with the utmost readiness, and although il
moved raasn hot IL
not In condition TO think about moving pre-
nmlnarily. IL could not very well have any
mental anxieties. and appeared likely to pre-
serve sort or automatic existence for an indif-
mite period. Whether 1t could sleep or repro
duce its kind were points not vet determined.
the owner of the frog told me. If this can be
done with a frog. IL should be practicable also
with human being. To person who could
afford the luxury, with nothing to accupy his
attention beyond the pursuit of elegant leisure
1t might appear highly desirable to dispense
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 apparel and take him
around in a cab, and-inasmuch as the chief
muscular effort exercised by my friends frog
was to wink with one eye-it seems to me very
likely that the pleasures Of filtration would still
be available to him."
1.-The frog is q cold blooded animal IA no
not?"
Yes; but on the other hand he is exceed
ingly afectiOnate. and his heart is agitated by
such strong emotions that it continues to beat
Tor seven OF eight minutes after it has been de-
tached from his body. There are about forty
species Of frogs In existence. The largest Is the
believer OF the Louisiana swamps which fire.
qnentIy grows TO three or four pounds weight.
and the smallest l. the tree frog. But the bel
lower Is nothing at all to the mOnstrous croak-
ers that peOpled the slime of the primeyal earth.
only century ago one of these was dug IN
petrined. Of such a size that it was taken BIZ
natural philosopher of reputation to be the
body Of an antediluvian man."
THE FROG AS A DUDE.
"Is the frog very intelligent?"
at is difficult to say; If you watch BIN Won
can never tell what he is looking at. though he
always appears to be engaged in the deepest
Thought Ny opinion is. however, that his
thoughts are chiefly confined to dress. He is
very extrayasant about his clothes; every week
or Two IN summer he has a new suit-kicks off
MS old garments like the clown in the panto-
mime-and appears in fresh costume with
green coat and white waistcoat. spck and span
Then, for economy's sake, he proceeds to eat
mp his rejected habilments. There are no sec
ond-hand clothing dealers among the batrach-
1ans. Mr.. Frogs skin is covered with water
proof yarnish, which eXudes from the pores
and the spots on his back serve to mark the
Hight OF time, increasing in number with the
years OF his existence. He has a great many