Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-06

in any direction, by simply touching a
I couple of buttons he can send a flood of
| light in that direction which will reveal the
whole forest and its occupants; the touch
| ing of q couple of more buttons will set the
camera at work, and the entire scene will
be reproduced as many times as Mr.. Garner
| desires and as long as anything interesting
remains in sight
While his main object is not the destruc-
| tlon of the inhabitants of the forest, Mr..
| Garner will 20 fully prepared to kill any
| specimens he NAV desire to save.
He Will Use a BIowgun.
Here, too, his ingenuity comes into play.
| Instead of loading himself down with rifles
| heavy enough to kill lions, elephants, goril-
las, and such like big game, and their con-
| sequent big load of ammunition, he pro-
poses to go back to an improvement on the
weapons of the savages themselves and will
use blowgun of his own invention. This
he regards as a much more effcacious
weapon for his purpose than firearms both
by reason of its silence and certainty.
AS to the gun itself not much need be
said, as if differs little from the sumpitan of
the native Of Borneo or the blowgun OF the
Amazonian Indians 1t is in the dart that Mr..
Gamers weapon shows its authority. This
will consist Of hollow steel head and
light shaft, SO arranged that when it strikes
Its quarry the shaft will fall of, and IN
doing SO throw open the hollow place in the
head.
This hollow will be charged with prussic
acid In sufficient quantity to produce almost
instant death in the strongest animal. The
whole weight of the missile will not be over
half an ounce. With sufficient number OF
these darts Mr.. Garner believes he can get
ali the specimens he desires, and he will not
have to go far from the place they were
struck in order to find them.
One plan he will try in day time is to
place his phonograph in some favorable
position, bait it with a loaded cylinder and
wait for the gorilla. When he approaches
the camera will be used as freely as pos
sible
Other kindso Bait.
Other bait will be probably used beside
the cylinder with the expectation of secur-
ing different speaking impressions, as it
WERE from the apes. Food and drink, for
example, Mr. Garner has an idea could be
used to advantage, and what they say and
how they act under the influence of the
different bats, all of which will be faith
fully recorded by the phonograph and
camera he thinks will be Of much value.
return from the trip with great store of
information which will prove the truth ofmy
theory bevond peradYenture of q doubt, and
which will add largely to my vocabulary
of simlan words. There will, of course, be
many dangers to encounter, and L shall take
every precaution possible to surmount the
difficulties and evade the dangers. l GER
tainly am not going to Africa to get killed |
if l can avoid it, and l have no doubt of
being able to accomplish what L set out to
do and to return with the results of my |
work. The only fact which has been defn- |
itely decided is that L am going" he said. |
81 cannot as yet say who will be of the |
party. Perhaps several gentlemen will |
join me. Their attention, however, if they |
60, will be devoted to other branches of sci |
ence or to hunting big game"
Advances in Monkey Talk.
In the facility of holding communica- |
tion with monkeys Mr.. Garner has made |
considerable progress recently, and he is |
working now on a number of photographic |
cylinders recording the gatherings of the |
simians which he has secured within the |
past two months. He gives recent incl |
dent of his experience, showing great prog |
resS With friend he went to a cage |
where a monkey was confined. Before they |
went he explained 10 his friend that he |
would make a certain sound. If the mon |
key replied in a certain way he would ac- |
cept of something to eat; if in another way |
he would accept of something to drink; if |
ne refused to answer at ali he would take |
nothing.
When they arrived at the cage Mr. Garner |
made the sound indicated. The monkey |
came at once to the front of the cage and |
looked curiouslv around as if to see where |
h. +lrr ~
I'd the sound two or three times, and at last
he animal replied with the word indicating
hat he wanted something to eat A cup of
milk was offered, but was contemptuousfy
refused; then q carrot was thrust into the
,age; this the monkey grabbed without
hesitation and began to eat.
Only Speak Their Own Language.
In his experiments Mr.. Garner has found |
that monkeys of different species make en-
tirely different sounds, and that no matter
how long they may associate with each
other they never learn each Others Ian
yuage. In this way they differ somewhat
from humans.
For instance, says Mr.. Garner, Sapaion
will never, no matter how long
they may be together, make the same sounds
IS cppucive, not even with brogue, as it
we're, though these two species seem to be
ledIlN IeldIeu. lneIe appears 10 pe some |
-adical difference in the vocal organs of the
TWO.
81 know that at first glance an unthink-
ng mind regards the idea of holding CON-
nunication with the lower animals as a
oke," said Mr.. Garner, "but it is by no
means a joke, and I shall most surely prove
hat it is not only practicable but almost as
,asy as it is for a German, for instance, to
earn Spanish or man OF any race or nation
o learn the language of another
"Do you believe that monkeys will ever
We able to speak the human language?' I
sked.
''No! ] am sure that they will not Their
,ocal organs are not sufficiently developed
@ enable them to form such sounds as are
lsed for words by humans. We must 60 to
hem if we wish to talk with them, for they
apnot oone IN nc - |