The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-03
M(lill .aglf
BABIES ANS APES.
Some Simple Experiments Showing Sur
prisiug Resemblance.


Some Simple Experiments Showing Sur
prising Resemblance.
An infant was Growing loudly and lus
tily somewhere at the back of the house
The sounds were inarticulate to out
siders; but DR.. Robinson, the baby's
father, If he heard them, would doubt
less be able TO interpret them as the in
teresting remains of the Simian tongue.
For Dr. Louis Robinson, whenever dur
ing the last two or three years he found
a leisure hour in his busy life, has studied
the ape in the babe. 1t was in order to
obtain some detailed information on this
subject from the author of f'Darwinism
In the Nursery" that our representative
had called on DR.. Robinson at Lewis
ham:
''The article is intensely interesting,
/ said to the doctor, ''but there is not
enough Of it. We all want to know more
about your experiments with the young
apes. What are the actual discoveries
your experiments led tor
''S5lnply this, that every new born
child, unless it is sicl1ly or otherwise i'm
perfectly developed, has most wonder
full power in the fexor muscles of the
forearm, and win support the whole
weight of its body, during the first few
hours after birth, for a period varying
from ten seconds to two minutes and a
half Now, everybody knows that in
monkeys the power of grip is very fnlly
developed; quadrumana can do any
thing with their hands and arms, and in
cases of danger this power is chief
means Of self preservation. have now
experimental on $50 babies; some Of
them an hour or two, some few days
Old-and in two cases only have they
failed to hang by their hands, even the
tiniest supporting the weight of its body
Tor ten seconds, most of them much
longer, and in a few cases they have
chung to finger or stick for two min
Irtes and half And even in the two
cases failure was due to other causes than
the infants lack of muscular strength.
/ ought to say that | never attempted to
experiment on weak children, who
might be injured by the exposure. A
blanket was placed below the child, so
That when it dropped it dropped on a
soft, warm surface. Whenever it was
possible the experiment was made and
the photograph taken in the presence of
the mother.
''On the face of one, aged sixty min
utes, sat stole Indifference; two more
looked energetic, though placid. as they
stuck with their round little fists to a
branch at the end Of which appeared two
hands, looking very gigantic in COM
parison TO the very youthful performers.
Some others were evidently expressing
their feelings in the Simian tongue, for
their mouths-tremendous sized mouths
they seemed-were wide open. The
miniature legs, absurdly small in pro-
portion to the arms, were drawn up; the
babes looked indeed like tailless infant
apes.
Observe the big toe" DR.. Robinson
went on. 81 have noticed over and over
again that in the case of young infants
it is turned outward, like thumb. as in
She case Of monkeys, whose hind feet are
an additional pair of hands. And when
ever have held finger or a stick close
to the infants feet while it was hanging
by its arms there has been an attempt
at clutching the stick with the feet. This
seems to me another instance of the sur
yival of the apes instincts in the human
child.
Another curious fact that struck me
was that even when a child had been
&lging by its hands for over a minute
Erhis seems short period, but just try
to hang to a horizontal bar, supporting
the weight of your body by your hands
only, for q minute or two-it let go more
because it wanted to change its position
than because it was tired. Sometimes [
gave it my finger to clutch as soon as it
dropped on TO the blanket, and l could
feel by the energetic grip that the little
animal was by no means exhausted. -
Cor. Pail Mall Gazette.