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Show 1889.] FACULTIES OF THE BALD CHIMPANZEE. 317 infancy, and therefore higher than that which is presented by any brute, so far at least as I have met with any evidence to show. Nevertheless, the only attempts that she makes by way of vocal response are three peculiar grunting noises-one indicative of assent or affirmation, another (very closely resembling the first) of dissent or negation, and the third (quite different from the other two) of thanks or recognition of favours. In disposition she is somewhat capricious, though on the whole good-humoured, fond of her keepers, and apparently never tired of a kind of bantering play which off and on they keep up with her continually. By vocalizing in a peculiar monotone (imitative of the beginning of her own "song"), they are usually able to excite her into the performance of a remarkable series of actions. First she shoots out her lips into the well-known tubular forms (depicted in Darwin's ' Expression of the Emotions,' p. 141), while at the same time she sings a strange howling note, interrupted at regular intervals : these, however, rapidly become shorter and shorter, while the vocalization becomes louder and louder, winding up to a climax of shrieks and yells, sometimes accompanied with a drumming of the hind feet and a vigorous shaking of the network which constitutes her cage. The whole performance ends with a few grunts. A year or two ago it occurred to me that I might try some psychological experiments on the intelligence of this animal. The circumstances in which she is placed, however, did not prove favourable for anything like systematic instruction. Being constantly exposed to the gaze of a number of people coming and going, and having her attention easily distracted by them, the ape was practically available for purposes of tuition only during the early hours of the morning, before the menagerie is open to the public; and, as a rule, I did not find it convenient to attend at that time. Therefore, the results which I am about to describe do not in m y opinion represent what might fairly have been expected under more favourable conditions ; if the Chimpanzee could have been kept as a domestic pet for a few months (as I kept a Cebus kindly lent me for the purposes of psychological observation by this Society), there can be no doubt that many much more interesting results might have been obtained. Nevertheless, it appears to me that even those which thus far have been obtained are worthy of being placed on record; and although some of them have already been published a few-months ago in m y work on ' Mental Evolution in Man,' since that time some further progress has been made ; and therefore in the present paper I will state together all the facts which have been hitherto observed. Having enlisted the intelligent cooperation of the keepers, I requested them to ask the ape repeatedly for one straw, two straws, or three straws. These she was to pick up and hand out from among the litter in her cage. No constant order was to be observed in making these requests, but whenever she handed a number not asked for, her offer was to be refused, while if she gave the proper number her offer was to be accepted, and she was to receive a piece |
