J 2 The Descent of Man. Tart I. 



their horror in a most human fashion, by lifting up the lid of the 

 box in which the snakes were kept. I was so much surprised at 

 his account, that I took a stuffed and coiled-up snake into the 

 monkey-house at the Zoological Gardens, and the excitement 

 thus caused was one of the most curious spectacles which I ever 

 beheld. Three species of Cercopithecus were the most alarmed ; 

 they dashed about their cages, and uttered sharp signal cries of 

 danger, which were understood by the other monkeys. A few 

 young monkeys and one old Anubis baboon alone took no notice 

 of the snake. I then placed the stuffed specimen on the ground 

 in one of the larger compartments. After a time all the monkeys 

 collected round it in a large circle, and staring intently, 

 presented a most ludicrous appearance. They became extremely 

 nervous ; so that when a wooden ball, with which they were 

 familiar as a plaything, was accidentally moved in the straw, 

 under which it was partly hidden, they all instantly started 

 away. These monkeys behaved very differently when a dead 

 fish, a mouse, 12 a living turtle, and other new objects were placed 

 in their cages; for though at first frightened, they soon 

 approached, handled and examined them. I then placed a live 

 snake in a paper bag, with the mouth loosely closed, in one of 

 the larger compartments. One of the monkeys immediately 

 approached, cautiously opened the bag a little, peeped in, and 

 instantly dashed away. Then I witnessed what Brehm has 

 described, for monkey after monkey, with head raised high and 

 turned on one side, could not resist taking a momentary peep 

 into the upright bag, at the dreadful object lying quietly at the 

 bottom. It would almost appear as if monkeys had some 

 notion of zoological affinities, for those kept by Brehm exhibited 

 a strange, though mistaken, instinctive dread of innocent lizards 

 and frogs. An orang, also, has been known to be much alarmed 

 at the first sight of a turtle. 13 



The principle of Imitation is strong in man, and especially, as 

 I have myself observed, with savages. In certain morbid states 

 of the brain this tendency is exaggerated to an extraordinary 

 degree ; some hemiplegic patients and others, at the commence- 

 ment of inflammatory softening of the brain, unconsciously 

 imitate every word which is uttered, whether in their own or in 

 a foreign language, and every gesture or action which is per- 

 formed near them. 14 Desor 15 has remarked that no animal 



12 I have given a short account of Mammalia/ 1841, p. 405. 



of their behaviour an this occasion 14 Dr. Bateman ' On Aphasia, 



in my 'Expression of the Emotions,' 1870, p. 110. 



p. 43. 15 Quoted by Vogt, ' Me'moire s-u 



13 W. C. L. Msrr.n. 'Nat, Hist, les Microcephales,' 1867, p. 168. 



