POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



137 



with designs that represent twelve flowers 

 or other things appropriate to the months 

 of the year. Each card is distinct and dif- 

 ferent from its fellows, even though it bears 

 the same emblem; and they can be easily 

 distinguished and classified, even if they 

 bear the same emblem, by the symbolic 

 flowers they bear, and also by a character 

 or letter that marks nearly every card, and 

 seems to denote the plant that represents 

 the month. The only month that has no 

 floral emblem is August, and that suit is 

 marked by mountains and warm-looking 

 skies. 



The Monkey Language. — The results of 

 experiments in the language of monkeys are 

 published by Prof Garner in the New Re- 

 view. Most of them were made in the 

 United States. He had long believed, he 

 says, that each sound uttered by an animal 

 had a meaning which any other animal of 

 the same kind would interpret at once ; and 

 had observed, as most of us have done, that 

 animals soon learn to interpret certain 

 words of man and to obey them, but never 

 try to repeat them. When they reply to 

 man it is in their own peculiar speech. The 

 author began his studies by visiting the zoo- 

 logical gardens of the United States and 

 watching and listening to the monkeys in 

 their prattle. By permission of Dr. Frank 

 Baker, of the National Zoological Garden, 

 two monkeys which had been caged together 

 were separated and placed in different 

 rooms. A phonograph was arranged near 

 the cage of the female, into which she was 

 made to speak. It was then made to re- 

 peat her " words " near the cage of the 

 male. His surprise and perplexity " were 

 evident. He traced the sounds to the horn 

 from which they came, and, failing to find 

 his mate, he thrust his hand and arm into 

 the horn quite up to the shoulder, withdrew 

 it, and peeped into the horn again and again. 

 He would then retreat and again cautiously 

 ' approach the horn, which he examined with 

 evident interest. The expressions of his 

 face were indeed a study." This satisfied 

 Prof. Garner that the monkey recognized 

 the sounds as those of his mate. He then 

 managed to get some sounds from him 

 which the mate in her turn recognized. The 

 ne.'ct recorded interviews were with two 



chimpanzees, from which a fine, distinct 

 record was secured, and with a capuchin 

 monkey in the Cincinnati garden. The au- 

 thor spoke to the monkey in his own tongue, 

 using the word supposed to stand for milk. 

 The monkey " rose, answered me with the 

 same word, and came at once to the front of 

 his cage. He looked at me as if in doubt, 

 and I repeated the word ; he did the same, 

 and turned at once to a small pan in the cage, 

 which he picked up and placed near the 

 door at the side, and returned to me and 

 uttered the word again. I asked the keeper 

 for some milk, which he did not have, how- 

 ever, but brought me some water. The ef- 

 forts of my little simian friend to secure 

 the glass were very earnest, and the plead- 

 ing manner and tone assured me of his ex- 

 treme thirst. I allowed him to dip his 

 hand into the glass, and he would suck his 

 fingers and reach again. I kept the glass 

 from reach of his hand, and he would re- 

 peat the sound and beg for more. I was 

 thus convinced that the word I had trans- 

 lated milk must also mean water, and from 

 this and other tests I at last determined 

 that it meant also drink and probably 

 thirst. I have never seen a capuchin who 

 did not use these two words. The sounds 

 are very soft and not unlike a flute, very 

 difficult to imitate, and quite impossible to 

 write." Other sounds were detected for 

 solid food or the hunger for it, pain and 

 sickness, and for alarm. On the utterance 

 of the last, the monkey sprang to the high- 

 est point in his cage, and on repetitions of 

 it became almost frantic with dread — so 

 that the sound for food would for the time 

 have no inducements for him. These sounds 

 Prof. Garner regards as the constituents of 

 a monkey language which has a variety of 

 dialects, according to the species addressed. 



Famous Japanese Swords.— A Japanese 

 short sword exhibited by Mr. Inman Homer 

 before the Numismatic and Antiquarian So- 

 ciety of Philadelphia is distinguished by 

 an inscription on the blade. Mr. Benjamin 

 Smith Lyman said that this inscription was 

 in Japanese characters, and appeared to be 

 the name of the sword. " It is not usual," 

 he said, " for swords to have a name in 

 Japan, but it is sometimes the case, as in 

 Europe. Two famous swords are recorded 



