Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-22


them with my own vocal organs, but whel
the photograph occurred to me I felt as
sured OF ultimate success. My first expert
ment was made in Washington. 1 separ
Rted a male and female that had been cageC
together and put the female into a small
cage and placed her in another part of the
building and placed the photograph neal
her and with much difficulty induced her to
make few sounds which recorded on the
machine. then placed the instrument
near the cage of the male, and reproduced
the sounds to him.
Recognized His Mates voice.
The evident signs of recognition were too
plain to doubt He hunted in the horn and
ing her was amusing. He would retire in
disgust, but the familiar voice of his mate
would soon induce him to return and renew
ms search, but that squeaking, chattering
horn was new affair to him. He seemed
to regard me as the author of this trouble,
and would occasionally hurl his milk pan at
me and talk in very angry tone. then
secured few of his sounds and delivered
them to the female, who showed some signs
of recognition, but the record was very poor
and her manner somewhat Indifferent
Thus concluded nv first experiment, and
thus for the first time L acted as an inter-
prefer between two monkeys, and while the
results were not all that 1 had wished, felt
the inspiration to farther efforts to find the
fountain head from which flows out the
great river of human speech. Soon after
this 1 went to Chicago and Cincinnati,
where I made many records of monkeys,
among which / made good record of the
two chimpanzees in the Cincinnati col
lection. Returning home with nv cylinders
j repeated them over and over till quite
familiar with them, and till 1 could initiate
3 few of them in q tolerable manner. I
then went again to Chicago and paid visit
TO the little brown monkey, the record of
whose voice had been my chief study.
The Sound That Stands for Food.
Standing near his cage I repeated the
sound which had translated, milk" I" but
now / began to find a much wider meaning,
and from great many tests 1 concluded
that it meaat, ''food," and also that it
seemed to be used as a kind of "shibboleth" /"
] can now begin to see why the word for
food may be so Intimately connected with
every kindly Office done him. The central
thought of simian existence is food, and
hence Its very name is the "open sesame"
70 his heart.
1t is a very difficult matter to construct
any formula of human speech which would
convey an adequate idea of the word, but
rs nearly as l can express the sound by any
literal formula it is almost "wh-u-w," with
the diagraph and vanishing "w" effect so
faint as to be barely capable of detection.
it is q rich and rather musical sound,
having slight piping effect, but is produced
by the vocal organs Just as human speech
is prodaced. The way in which it is used
IS quite difficult to illustrate, but each word
or sound is within itself q sentence as CON-
plete and full as the concept which it is
meant to express When a monkey uses
the sound for food he means food of any
kind, hunger to eat, the desire to eat, that
which satisfies, the comfort derived from
eating or anything which food will procure
Two Other Common Words.
The word which Ibelieve to mean drink
begins with q very feeble cultural "ch,"
gliding through short 'u, much like the
German ''u'' with umlaut ''w'' and ending
in a vanishing ''w." Another word is
much like ''ecgk" and is used when threat
ening or scolding, and is marked by slight
tremolo effect, as nearly all the sounds
are that are made by American monkeys.
Among many others this simple test has
been quite efficient: To hold in one hand
cup OF water or milk and in the other some
food and keep them out of view of the |
monkey. Then with the phonograph to saw |
one or the other of the words till the |
monkey responds. Then show him the |
1t be will speak it, but if he will not speak |
st you will observe that he will not accept |
1t, but If he continues saying the other word, |
you will find generally that he will accept |
the one he speaks. On one of NV visits to |
the cage of the little monkey in Chicago 1 |
was struck by the conduct and peculiar
sound made by him, but after a time I felt |
sure he was calling my attention to the
weather as he would look out the window
S+a aonb cv1ef of mind and roip 6na11,
secured record of the sound, and at a later
time repeated it to the same animal when |
it had cleared off, and he Immediately ran
10 the window and looked out. L repeated |
1t several times and caused him to look out |
the window, and this caused me to believe |
that the word had some reference to the |
weather
Begging for a Glass of Water.
Another sound recorded from this monkey,
accompanied by peculiar rubbing of his |
side and groin, L repeated to another
money Of the same species in Cincinnati,
which caused him to act in much the same
way, though with some indifference. On |
approaching the little Cincinnati monkey, 1 |
addressed him in his own native tongue,
using the word which 1 had called "milk.'
He Immediately came TO the front of the /
cage anc replied with the same sound. He
seemed, however, to be in doubt, but / re-
peated the word, and he did the same. He
soon turned to pan kept in his cage to
drink from, picked it up and placed it near
q door at the side of the cage and returned |
20 me repeating the word. Iprocured some
water in a glass in which allowed him to
dip his fingers and suck the water from
them. Oh. how he begged for more, but the
keeper feared ii would sicken him, so had
20 withdraw the glass and leave him beg
ging.
Another sound which 1 learned from this
little fellow l regarded as a "menace," or
cry Of alarm, but it was SO sharp 1 could not
initiate it only with the phonograph. /
have since, however, devised means of
Initiating it quite well, and on visiting a
monkey in Charleston, S. c., / concluded to
try its effect On my first visit to him i
found him quite friendly and we became
friends at once. fed him from my hands
and scratched his head and we got on quite
well, but in a few days / concluded to try
the alarm on him. which did with verv
much greater success than had desired.
Poor Jokes Chat was his name) sprung to
perch IN the top of his cage and flew into a
terrible rage For manv weeks could not
induce him to come down while was pres
ent; nor could l induce him to answer nv
impassioned limitations of his word for
food or drink, nor to accept any over
ture of peace, except to emit sound which
was quite new to me.
The language of Surrender.
After the lapse of two or three weeks,
however, / resorted to harsher means; so 1
began to threaten him with rod. At first |
he was disposed to resent it, but on failing /
to intimidate me with his many threats, he
soon yielded and came down from his perch,
though at first with great reluctance. When
be first came down he would place the side