THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



DECEMBER, 1893 



THE STORY OF BOB. 



By DAVID STARR JORDAN, 



PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFOKD JUNIOR UNIVERt^lTY. 



WE called him Bob. We never knew his real name. That 

 had been left in the jungles of Borneo. He was born in 

 1890, a prince of the tribe of Cercopiihecus which inhabits the 

 palm forests of the south sea islands. Stolen from his parents 

 by a south sea trader, he was brought to San Francisco, ex- 

 changed for a keg of beer, and found his way at last to a Kearny 

 Street curiosity shop. 



Not long after, a student of evolution saw him there, ransomed 

 him by a subscription from his fellow-students, and Bob was 

 transferred to a new home in the university beside the Tall Tree. 

 Here he was placed in the custody of a young naturalist from 

 Japan. Otaki being likewise Asiatic by birth, understood the 

 wants and feelings of Bob better than did any of the others by 

 whom he was surrounded. 



We first knew Bob as a wild and suspicious creature, who 

 looked at all who came near him with fear or hatred. If any per- 

 son touched him. Bob would look him straight in the eyes, with 

 scowling face and lips rolled back, every muscle tense for action 

 in case of any injury or indignity. Whenever he was lifted from 

 the ground, all these expressions would be intensified ; but he 

 never ventured to bite any one who seemed beyond his size, or to 

 escape from any one he thought able to hold him. Toward 

 women he showed from the first great aversion, for they had 

 poked him in the ribs with their parasols while he was in prison 

 in Kearny Street. Furthermore, he seemed seriously to disap- 

 prove the unseemly freedom allowed to women in our country. 



VOL. XLIV. 12 



