Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-01
PENNSYLVANIA MONK
AMAZES PROFESSOR
U. OF p. TEACHER DECLARES IT
USES REASON
Initiates Human Beings by openin!
Doors When Visitors Call.
Has Figured 1t
All Out

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 31.-Right
here in Philadelphia there is a monkey
with enough intelligence stored away in
her mind to make her an excellent un-
derstudy to Peter, the cultured CHM
panzee which DIR. Lightner Wilmer of
the University of Pennsylvania pro-
claimed as the missing link.
The animal belongs to Dr. William Fl.
Furness, third, and halls from the is
land of Java. Like Peter, this monkey
has come under the scientific study of
DR.. Wilmer in the university clinic.
There she was scrutinized as carefully
as though she were q child in which
the psychologist was trying to discover
some indication of extraordinary intel
| ligence.
1t was not until DR.. Wilmer saw the
monkey in her own home-a room in
DR.. Furness' greenhouse-thath he con-
cluded she could reason things out for
herself, as child would.
In the room where the monkey is kept
| there is a door with an ordinary latch
on it. Whenever the monkey was re-
leased in it she would jump and climb
about, examining each object with
"feeting but minute attention. the
psychologist observed.
She Opens Door
One day she hung from pipe by her
hind legs and reached the latch with
her front feet. She lifted it carefully,
and noticed that the door opened. Dr.
Furness says there was no trial or er-
ror; she succeeded in the first attempt,
which makes the feat appear all the
more remarkable, when considered from
the standpoint of the psychologist.
For a monkey like Peter, trained as
he was by careful hands, this would
have been an ordinary monkey achieve
ment But to the animal belonging to
DR.. Furness, which has never been
taught to do anything of this sort, the
simple unlatching of a door, taken TO-
gether with the acts of preparedness,
goes far beyond the threshold OF the
ordinary accomplishments of such ami
mails, according to DR.. Wilmer.
"She was never known to hang by
her hind legs in examining or playing
with Wilmer. "She may have con
ceived the purpose of opening the
greenhouse door, thus making an intel
ligent attempt to initiate the persons
whom she had seen going in and out OF
this door. She has never initiated any
action which was not of direct interest
to herself Properly speaking, she does
not blindly initiate at all; she does only
what interest and instinct lead her to
undertake.
She's a Polite Hostess
Another little incident in her short
career as the possession of DR.. Furness
tends to emphasize her initiative or
reasoning ability. Besides learning TO
omen the door of her own private
APARTMENT she picked up the idea OF
turning the knob of another door that
led into her room, and, since the door
was partly of glass, she could look
| through it into the room adjoining.
Some visitors were in this outer room
one day and, as they were approaching
| the monkeys quarters, she evidently
| figured out it was up to her to be nos
pitable, and so she turned the KNOB OF
| this glass door and threw it wide open
for them to enter. Then she sat on her
| launches waiting for them to come IN
and "look her over" as persons were
| wont to do.
After the monkey had acquired the
knack of opening the door from her
own room she made such a practice OIL
| il that DR.. Furness was compelled TO
punsh her for it. When the monkey
| had been broken of the practice Dr.
Wilmer, accompanied by DR.. TWltmyer
| of the psychological department, Went
! out to photograph her i'll the position
she assumed in unlatching the door. IL
required almost endless coaxlng, put
| finally the animal did the trick again
as she had done it when first she was
put into the room.
Flashes of Intelligence
"T fear to make hasty interpretations
| of animal behavior" explained Dr'
Wilmer, referring to the whole per
| formance. "but L am struck by What
anpears to be flashes of intelligence
which are the result of momentary
concentration of attention.
| "Since Herbert's time we have been
willing enough to recognize the educa-
! tional value of an appeal to the child
| natural interest. The animal has IN
terests also, but these are not neces-
| sariIy the same as human interest
I A inst measure of an animaPs lntelll-
gence can be made only by studying
| him at moments when his whole IN
| terest is aroused.
"A blind instinct to do something,
no matter what, or a blind curiosity
NAV have inspired the first opening OF
! the door. OF a blind impulse to lml-
| tate. such as appears IN the anthro-
| poids and in children, and even IN men
and women, 1 have seen no trace IN
| this monkey. She pays no need 10
what does not concern her.
LET her interest be aroused and she
manifests through her behavior an
awakened consciousness which ap-
proaches the human under like cir
cumstances.
"Whatever motive inspired the first
opening of the door, 1 believe the act
came to be a conscious and intelligent
imitation of a human action, and at
the time she was photographed was
performed with consciously conceived
| ,,rrnrn of paining entrance into the