The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-14
MONKEY INTELLIGENCE.
STRANGE STORIES OF THE MENTAL
QUALITIES or THE SIIIANS.
the AnimGIs-The Mother and Babe.
Curiosity the Monkeys weakness.


gan grinder with his monkey. or who pays
a visit 10 the monkey house at the zoo.
IS apt 10 be on the lookout for grotesQue-
ness. rather than intelligence, for mis-
chleI than docihty. We are fairly well
justified IN opening this essay with the
statement that the monkey is an intelli-
sem animal Is misjudged. DR.. ROmanes
speaks 10 the point when he says. I'm
fortunately, the intelligence OF apes,
monkeys and boboons has not presented
material Tor nearly so many observations
as that OF other intelligent mammals. Use
Lyss Ior all purposes OF labor or art. mis-
chleNous as domestic pets. and IN all
cases troublesome to keep, these animals
nave never enjoyed the improving lnllG-
ence of hereditary domestication while
LOT the same reason observation of the in
tellIsence OF captured individuals has been
comparatively scant
II seems hard. from a scientific stand
point, that q naturalist al the close OF
INC nineteenth century should have to
write thus, when IL is Wen known that the
Daboon was a familiar animal 10 the an
ciehJ Egyptians, and that Solomon a
thousand years or so before the Christian
era, imported apes from Ophir The So
luton of the difficulty may perhaDs he
iouhQ IN the words quoted aboVe--use-
lSss lor all purposes OF labor or art, mis-
SLilet0 GUS as domestic pets and in all cases
troublesome TO keep'-which will apply
Win similar force to that young mon
Key the Incorrigible boy
However this may be. il is only Of late
years that attention has been called to
we lltellgenoe of the monkey family
anu anu lne verdict which follows the careful
investigation Of modern methods of on
serVation is that the mental process which
tEe creatures IN question carry out are
OL disunctly different type from those
Plat,tlceu Dy other animals, not even ex-
ceplng the elephant and the dog. There
Is mere Enthusiastically an evolution n,
nose faculties which. in common par
lance go by the names of "instinct'' ana
reason according as the speaker is
contemplating the actions of what he calls
nans Is on ne one hand the Homo sa-
Tear that honor the hoary head" is
~ ~ usual prcNerb In monkey land. Capt
80 49, yisSoIs IN ms Shooting Scenes Among
the haf1lrs, relates how he once came
upon a group sitting in a ravine An
eIdsrly patriarch had charge of the family
1 ~ kept sentry, while the ladies' who had
lhelr owe branches on their knees -
We're doing up their hair" The fussv
pacing up and down of the pater farnilias
uid not commend itself to some young
SSteIS' VINO undertook to play a Joke upon
nm; one, more daring than the resi-
borrowed closely on the heels Of the patri,
arch during the whole length Of his beat
anu gave a sharp tug at his tail As he
was about to return. The old feIlot,I
seemed to treat it with the greatest
! ~ ference, scarcely turning around to
Master Impudence was about renea+-
ms the performance when the pater
showing that he was not such a fool as
Inc. iQ ~, suddenly sprang around, catch
ms tHS young one before he could escape
gave him two or three such cuffs tbat
/ could hear the screams that resulted
therefrom.
The venerable gentleman then cbucl,ad
the delinquent over his shoulder and con-
tlhueu his promenade with the greatest
SSOLlteSs. rms old babOOn was acquaint-
ca win the details of Solomon's proverb
A crowd gathered round the naughty
enid, who, childlike, seeing commofio1
SThIleKed All the louder. l even fancied
couId see the angry glances of the
mamma as she took her dear little net
~ ner arms and removed it from a repe-
uIlon OF such brutal treatment"
~ am sorry to say that MONKEYS have
hlep tomanla badly, and do not belong
10 the Prohibition party. Perhaps some
people mink that these two failings are
MARKS OF negligence. DepOnent saith
not, but the first has brought out MANY
acts OF cunning, and the second is used
BY BY man TO entrap the monkey. DR.. Frank
auckland had pet Capuchin-a South
| American monkey-which showed exSyor
toms of phthisis. The doctor prescribed
9 COO. liver Oil but when it was Offered TO
JACK openly on the dining room table he
refused it with the usual signs Of renus-
nance at that well-known dose. A i3ttIe
was then placed in a saucer where Jack
f TO ba Iihd IL, and Mr. Buckland pretended
TOOK, Jack, thinking he was stealing the
on, sucked up the prescribed dose, MAX
, ,a3b d. = lace lace not implying nausea, but
r1Iher nigh glee at his own cleverness .
me country people in Pernambuco catch
the monkeys by putting within their reach
jar o. o. u. cane rum and a species of spondias
OF nog plum, of which the animals are
fond. When the rum has disabled them
they fall an easy prey.
The Arabs of Abyssinia take unfair ad-
vantage OF the same propensity for the
bottle" and expose vessels filled with the
common country beer, sWeetened with
yates ana 1rugged with the juice Of plant
OF the milk weed family. The monkeys
drink largely and then fall asleep. when
they are captured with ease. A traveller.
1arkyn' IN ms Life in Abyssinia,' says:
Monkeys viii certainly get drunk as men
II they have the chance.
1 have no desire to intimate that monkeys
are innately mischievous, but certainly
their pranks when kept as pets would
almost lead one to some such conclusion
Mr.. Buckland speaking of his pet saws:
Nothing placed Jack so much as to make
his escape, Jack Sheppard fashion, from
the wire cage in which he was kept by the
kitchen fire. He would pick and pick with
his long skeleton-like fingers till he found
the staple loose. If anybody happened to
look round at him while he was at work
he would drop instantly on the hay and
pretend to be asleep.
When he managed to get the door I'M
fastened he would not bolt out in a mo-
ment, but push It open as gently and grad
ually as burglar; He would then sneak
his chain in curl of his tan to prevent
it rafting on the stones, and the servants
detecting his pranks His object was to
get to my room. and on looking uD l fire.
quently found my friend nestled inside
the fender. He came into the room SO
quietly that did not know he had escaned
from his cage till he called my attention
by a friendly chatter. as much as to saw:
I've got loose so cleverly you really must
not scold me for it, "
Curiosity seems to be a failing (or vir-
tue) of monkeys. A friend of mine had
a South African monkey which had trav-
eled with him around the world When
his bachelor days were over he took HIS
young wife to a lovely manor house in
the south of England, and EngIishman
like, kept several barrels of home
brewed" ale in the cellar. On returning
from church one Sunday morning he no.
ticed that the cellar door was open and
started on a tour of investigation AS
he went down the steps Jenny" the
monkey, rushed up and he found that
he had set all the spigots running The
door had been inadvertently left open.
and Jenny doubtless went pryfng into
the semi-lighted place.
Turning one spigot on produced such
a rushing stream that she tried the 9TH
ers also. much to the waste of the liquid
dear to Gambrinus. 1 may add that when
my friends first born appeared and mon
opolized attention Jenny got such a fit
of jealousy that she was at once sent
TO the secluded, but more congenial So
ciety of the monkeys in the monkey
house of the London Geological Gardens
There is something in all these anec-
dofoe which reminds one very forotblr-