Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-02-16
SPEECH OF ANIMALS.
A SUBJECT IN WHICH MANY ARE
TAKING INTEREST.

A Chicago Physician Relates His Expert
ence With a Pet Squirrel-He Is Sur.
That 1t ''Talks' to Him and Understand
Much That He Says-Intelligent Dogs,
That animals have q means of commu.
nication among themselves through Ger.
tain vocal sounds is a well established
fact; that these vocal sounds are Of suff.
Gent range to express other than mere
physical ideas and thus to assume the i'm
portance of a language is probable, al.
though as yet improved.
For the last three years I have had q
tame fox squirrel of which I have made q
great pet. Polly has occupied a cage in
the laboratory where she has been, for the
most part shut off from the sights and
sounds of the outside world. Although at
times the laboratory has had other ten
ants in the shape of squirrels, rabbits and
guinea pigs, she has formed no particu-
lar attachment for any of them, but when
l am about she is usually close to me,
either on my shoulder or following me
about like a dog.
definite purpose l have talked to her much
uo oAO "Ou1u U14h u q yOuuH Cullus AOOuC
a year ago she began to reply to my con-
to my questions as to food, ETC., but later
her talk has assumed larger proper
tions, until now she will, of her own &C
cord, assume the initiative.
Her vocabulary appears to be quite ex-
tensive, and while for the most part it per-
tains to matters of food and personal COM
fort fh0ro ara tirooc vxhor - oo,~a :.
though she were trying to tell me Of other
things.
When 1 first go out where she is in the
morning, she Immediately asks for food,
and until that want is supplied she keeps
up a constant muttering. Later when her
hunger is appeased she will ask to be let
out of the cage. Often when playing about
the room she will climb onto my shoulder
and ''talk' to me for awhile in low tone
and then scamper off. Unless she is sleepy
she will always reply to any remark made
to her.
Her speech is not the chattering ordi-
narily observed in squirrels, but a low
cultural tone that reminds one both of
the low notes Of a frog and the cluck of a
chicken. Some of the notes 1 have been
able to repeat, and invariably she becomes
alert and replies to them. Unfortunately,
the effort to reproduce her tones produces
an uncomfortable effect on my throat, and
have been obliged to desist from further
experiments in that direction. The sounds
that she makes are quick and in low tone,
so the attempt to isolate words is very diff
icult, yet there is as much range of infec-
tion as in German.
Another reason why I believe she is en-
deavoring to communicate with me is that
she has used the same sounds toward
other squirrels confined in the sam cage,
and that, while she will answer any one
who addresses her, she voluntarily will
only talk at length to me. That she under
stands what is said to her is beyond ques-
ton, and, furthermore, she will distin-
gu1sh between a remark made to her and
one made to some one else.
When Polly first commenced "talking,'
l regarded it merely as idle chattering,
but further observation shows that it is
not such, and that the sounds she makes
have a definite meaning. Moreover, the
sounds she makes in ''talking'' are not
the shrill notes of anger or alarm, but
low, clear sounds that are Enthusiastically
articulate. g+1
In my fondness for my pet have / overes-
timated the value of the sounds she makes,
or am l right in assigning to them the
characters of speech? Why should an ami
ma not attempt to communicate with
man! The higher animals are possessed
of n well formed larynx and vocal chords.
Why, then, should we deny or ever ques-
ton tho possibility Of articulate speech?
And if they can converse AMONG them
selves why may they not attempt to COM
municate with man?
Any one who has owned a we'll bred dog
can relate numerous instances in which
his dog has clearly understood what was
aid to it, and the readiness with which a
dog learns a new command shows an IN
telligence of a high order. Although a
dogs vocabulary is Of limited range, it
has certain definite sounds that possess an
u~nmistakable meaning. There is the short,
sharp bark that expresses a want, the
low nervous bark that means discom-
fort, the sharp, quick bark Of joy, the low
whine of distress, the growl of distrust,
the deep growl of anger, the loud bark of
warning and the whimper of fright. When
to these are added the various movements
OF the body, covering in fear, crouching
In anger, the stiff bracing of the body in
defense, leaping in joy and many special
actions, as licking the hand of the master
or pulling at his clotAes, we find that q
dog can express his likes and dislikes, his
wants and his feeling as clearly as though
he were human. Any one who in a time
of sorrow or depression has had his dog
come to him and lay it's head in his lap
and has looked down into those great
brown eyes so full of sympathy and love
can ever doubt that the dog understood
all and in it's WI way was trying tx com.
fort.
A friends cat has an unmistakable
sound for yes and no. The former is low
meyouw, while the latter is a short, sharI
m'yow. If Tom wants to go out, that
fact is made manifest by a quick meyouw.
II perchance any one should be in the chair
which Tom regards as his especial proper.
ty, no regard for propriety restraints him
from indicating that fact and unceremoni
ously ordering the INSTRUCTOR out. Hft
meyouw on such an occasion cannot bt
mistaken. Instances of this sort are not
uncommon and ordinarily fail to attract
attention, but is there not here a field tina,
will we'll repay a careful investigations
DR.. Howard N. Lyon in Science.
Fifteen Cold Bottles q Day.
Berry Wall and his friend ttLord" Clag
gett dine often at a hotel. They take theil
dinner in the middle of the day and prob
Al- --IN "a - A.