Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And WorkMitchell, P. Chalmers (Peter Chalmers), Sir
Science
Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work
Mitchell, P. Chalmers (Peter Chalmers), Sir
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895
Although, since Huxley wrote, there has been much greater opportunity
of studying anthropoid apes, both in confinement and in their native
haunts, there is not much to add to his account. Some little time ago,
the world was interested by the assertion of a clever American that he
had discovered a kind of language used by the higher apes, and that he
was able to communicate with them. Mr. Garnier, the person in
question, declared his intention of going out to tropical Africa and
establishing himself in a strong cage in the forests inhabited by
gorillas and chimpanzees, in the hope that, impelled by curiosity,
they would look upon him as we look on monkeys in a zoölogical garden,
and that he would thus be able to make his knowledge and records of
monkey language more perfect. As a matter of fact he went to Africa,
and on his return published a volume which aroused the indignation of
naturalists. There was internal evidence that he had gone no further
than the garden of a coast station, and his pretended account of the
habits of monkeys as they lived in their native haunts contained
nothing that was not already known. There is no doubt but that the
anthropoid apes, like many other animals, use modulations of their
voice to express emotional states; that, in fact, they have love-cries
and cries of warning, of alarm, and of pleasure; but there is not the
smallest evidence to suppose that in the case of the anthropoids these
cries approach more nearly to speech than the cries of any other of
the higher mammals.
Since Huxley's volume was published, a large amount of information has
been published by Darwin, Romanes, and others upon the mental
capacities of anthropoids kept in confinement, and the result of this
has been to prove that the anthropoids, in especial the chimpanzees,
possess mental powers more akin to those of man than are to be found
in the most intelligent of the quadrupeds. We may cite some instances
of these higher powers. Vosmaern had a tame female orang-outang that
was able to untie the most intricate knot with fingers or teeth, and
took such pleasure in doing it that she regularly untied the shoes of
those who came near her. The female chimpanzee called Sally, that
lived for many years in the Zoölogical Society's Gardens in London,
was taught by its keeper and by Romanes an interesting variety of
"tricks" involving at least the rudiments of what may be called human
intelligence. Among other feats, it would pick up from the floor and
present to the keeper or to a visitor, a stated number of straws up to
five. Many monkeys seem nearly purely destructive in their dealings
with objects within their reach; but Leutemann tells of an
orang-outang which "tried to put to its proper use whatever was given
to him. To my great surprise he attempted to put on a pair of gloves.
He supported himself on a light walking cane and, when it bent under
him, made ridiculous motions to right it again." Brehm tells of a
chimpanzee:
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