Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-02
Frederic Haskin's Letter
A PROFESSOR OF ANIMAL LANGUAGES
.sps-aA cosrsps.dne Of Ths Arsas,,

partment what the mandrill was
doing. DIR. Garner quickly became
convinced that they used quite .
varied language In doing this.
After little he found that he could
himself tell what the mandrill was
doing by listening to the excited
remarks OF the monkeys.
After this he spent a great deal
of time in the geological parks
studying the language Of simians.
He learned to initiate their var
ious sounds with great accuracy,
and he also reproduced these on
the graphophone. He first attract
ed wide attention by playing a
graphophone record made by a fe-
male monkey before her mate. The
male monkey answered her re-
marks at great length. looked all
over the cage for her, and even
put his arm in the megaphone OF
the machine to see If she was in
side of it.
One of the first monkey-words
! that DR.. Garner learned was that
meaning drink" He found that
by repeating this sound before a
monkey he could induce it to pick
up the saucer in which it was CIV
en- milk or water, and bring it to
the front of the cage.
DIR. Gamers early work encoun-
tered more ridicule than recogni-
ton, but he was finally provided
with funds by friends who were in
terested in his theories, SO that he
was able to go to Africa and study
the apes and monkeys in a wild
state. This became his life work.
He spent 30 years in the French
Congo and in other portions OF
south and central Africa studying
monkeys, and at the time of his
death, at the age Of Y years, be-
ing too old for further journeys to
Africa, he was planning to estab-
lish a monkey colony in Florida Sc
that he could continue his studies
there. His book on the life and
language of monkeys is an author
ity much referred to.
DR.. Garner ridiculed the idea that
the so-called lower animals are
motivated chiefly by instinct, and
that there is a sharp dividing line
between instinct and thought. The
idea that language was invented
by man he also repudiated. He as
serted that language in sope sense
exists in almost all animals. When
any animal makes sound, thai
sound is designed to express some,
thing. 1t may express merely emo
ton, as do our sounds when we
laugh or cry, and as do the sounds
made by an excited dog when he
banks and bowls. When they de-
mot express emotion, sounds ex
press thought-that is, they are ar
attempt to convey ideas. The.
then become language. If you steI
on a tack and shout ouch yor
: are merely expressing emotion, bu
; if you see friend block ava.
. and shout, come here" you art
using language. Likewise the, quail:
. in a flushed cover will utter erie:
, tof terror. But after you have scat
tered them, if you will wait al
, hour or so, you can hear the leader
calling them together He utters {
: certain sound, and the scattered
, birds answer him with a differen
{ sound. The leader shouts, Come
here" and the birds answer. Com
ing" BY initiating accurately eth
err of these sounds, you, too, ma.
take part in this bird conversation
Now, when you shout, Gone
/ here you are using Language
which is the outcome of thought
You reflect that your friend is owe
there, that you want him here, ant
, that these words will tend to brin,
him. Does not t--e quail go through
, the same mental process? VIVA
right have We to say that in ou
case the language We use is tn
? outcome of logical thought, Will
in the bird it is an expression o
instinct?
This is DR.. Gamers side as W,
( understand it. Whether he woul'
: approve our Interpretation or not
he makes a most convincing argu
= ment to the effect that the menta
l life of the other animals is like on
t own, just as their physical life is
E and that we might understand then
5 far better if we would take tn
5 trouble to do so.