The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1894-03-21
MONKEY BUSINESS
Some of the Results Of an Odo
African Expedition.

interesting account of his work and
methods in studying the speech OF
monkeys and the habits of the
gorilla and chinpanzae in their
native forests. lie was not himself
startled, he said, to tind that mon
keys spoke, thou III TO some II was
an incredible idea. Mr. Darw
had only touched the subject Of
speech in a dis ant manner, though
he intimat d rather vaguely his be
lief that animals could not talk.
Aristotle held The same opinion,
and the church, whether or not on
Scrptural authority, maintained the
same view. In the pursuit of hls
object he had been terribly in
earnest, and had faced every kind
of hard ship NJ day had been too
long, no san too hot for him, in his
endesvors to solve the question,
80 monkeys talk
1t was his unconditional opinion
that monkeys talked These AMI
mails had a admitted power d thought
Many mems power of thought was
limited, bat thought was thought,
however great the diff .renca in the
extent of the faculty between man
and mal. Every anatomical con.
dtion present in man was present
in the monkey For months he had
lived alone with chimpanz e, with
which he got to be on the most
friendly terms He doubted somo
times how far he was ch'mpanzea
or the ape was human. He could
not say much for the morals of tue
chimpauzee. but he could say the
same of many human beings. He
had native boy vi h him when he
lived with the chlmpanzee. He
was ignorant both Of the boys
speech aud that of the apo. The
boy, however, mastered the chin
panz ae language sooner than he did
To his chimpauzee, az TO the boy,
he conveyed by speech the common
requirem ents Of llfe-bread, water,
tirc-by learning the tongue of the
animal as he had learned that of the
boy God couli never have given
these brut so much of feeling,
en- ,tion, aud intelligence withou,
giving them a corresponding power
of speech.
He generally spoke, especially tc
the smaller monkeys, by the phone
graph, in which their speech had
been previously registered. Tn
, questionably, these animals ad
dressed certain sounds to the ind.
; vidual and waited for response.
= Intonation, inf oction, paraiigm'
=, were, no doubt, absent, but these
were the products of centuries Of
= evolution. There was, however
undoubted variety in the tones Of
the ape. To his mind the evidence
was clear that monkeys could count
u and lis friend "Moses," the chin
= parzee, would, in obedience to the
word Of command, do his ap
pointed task of laying certain
nu nber 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 hi
+ spent in the cage with which he was
equipped was one of the proudes
of his life. Sometimes, indeed, h,
> was lonely. The gorilla was al
animal of shy habits, but his Owl
> monkey travelling companions at
!, tracted them, and gorilla now ano
then would pay him visit IL,
believed he had seen more gorilla
than any other white man. TIE ma
> lives told him he would have seer
9 more il he had BACKED his face, bu
the scarcity of water deferred hin
from doing so. ID ring the min
months he was on the coast h
Ii had fever twelve times. His frien,
NJ oses was also ill.,, and his othe
y chimpanzee, Aaron, treated Nose
with the greatest care and tender
y ness. The natives regarded tn
a q, cage as sort of fetish. Ga one oc
II cision he was favored with a pro
longed visit from a lady gorilla
= who was chasing dog to which h
q . was in the habit of giving an occa
y sional bone. He was not, however
able to hold much converse with he
1