The Portland daily press., 1894-03-16
PROF. eARNER's MONKEY BUSINESS.
He Tells Some of the Results of His Odd
African Expedition.

Prof. r. L. Garner gave to large audi
ence in the Princes Hall last night an
interesting account of his work and
methods in studying the speech of mon
keys and the habits of the gorilla and
chimpanzee in their native forests He
was not himself startled, he said, to find
that monkeys spoke, though to some it
was an incredible idea. Mr.. Darwin
had only touched the subject of speech
in a distant manner, though he intimat-
ed rather vaguely his belief that ami
mails could not talk. Aristotle held the
same opinion, and the Church, whether
or not in Scriptural authority, main
tanned the same view. In the pursuit of
his object he had been terribly in ear
nest, and haG faced every kind of hard.
ship. No day had been too long, on sun
too hot for him., in his endeavors to
solve the question" "Do monkeys talk?"
1t was his unconditional opinion that
monkeys talked. These animals had
a limited power of thought. Many mems
power of thought was limited. but
thought was thought, however.great the
difference in the extent of the faculty.be-
tween man and man. Every anaJom1al
condition present in man was present
in the monkey. For months he had
lived alone with chimpanzee.. with
which he got to be on the most friendly
terms. He doubted sometimes how far
he was chimpanZee or the ape was hui
man. He could not say much for the
morals of the chimpanzee; but he could
L, IS hair
He had native boy with him when he
lived with the chimpanzee. He was
ignorant both of the boys speech and
that of the ape. The boy, however, mas
tered the chimpanzee language sooner
than he did. To his chimpanzee, as to
the boy, he conveyed by speech the COM
mon requirements of life-bread, water,
ire-by learning the tongue of the ami
NAL as he had learned that OF the boy.
God could never have given these brutes
SO much of feeling, emotion, and lntelli-
gence without giving them a correspond
ing power of speech.
He generally spoke, especially to the
smaller monkeys, by the monograph,
in which their speech had been pre-
viously registered. Unquestionably,
these animals addressed certain sounds
to the individual and waited for re-
Spouse. information, infection, para
digms, were, no doubt, absent, but
these were the products of centuries of
evolution. There was, however, I'M
doubted variety in the tones of the ape
To his mind the evidence was clear that
monkeys could count, and his friend
Moses,n the chfmpanzee, would, in
obedience to the word of command, do
his appointed task of laying certain
mum Der of blocks in a certain mum Der
of holes, and after doing SO would run
up in eager expectation of his reward.
The first night he spent in the cage with
which he was equipped was one of the
proudest OF his life. Sometimes, indeed
he was lonely. The gorilla was an ami
NAL of shy habiJs, but his own monkey
travelling companions attracted them,
and gorilla now and then would pay
him visit. He believed he had seen
more gorillas than any other white man.
The natives told him he would have seen
more If he had blacked his face, but the
scarcity of water deferred him from doing
so. During the nine months he was on
the coast he had fever twelve times. His
friend Moses was also i'll, and his other
ohimpanzee, Aaron treated Moses with
the greatest care and tenderness. The
natives regarded the age as a sort of
fetish. On one occasion he was favored
with prolonged visit from lady 60
rilla, who was chasing dog to which he
was in the habit of giving an occasional
bone. He was not, however, able to
hold much converse with her as she
was too much astonished to talk. 1t
was his intention to return to Africa,
bring back a number of chimpanzees,
and give practical illustration of the
progress he had smade. London Times.