POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



CC^orvcspouclciice. 



DO ANIMALS REASON? 



Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



Dear Sir: In connection with the 

 discussion of the interesting subject Do 

 Animals Reason? permit me to relate 

 the following incident in support of the 

 affirmative side of the question: 



Some j-ears ago. before the establish- 

 ment of the National Zoological Park in 

 this city, Dr. Frank Baker, the curator, 

 kept a small nucleus of animals in the 

 rear of the National Museum; among 

 this collection were several monkeys. 

 On a hot summer day, as I was passing 

 the monkey cage I handed to one of the 

 monkeys a large piece of fresh molasses 

 taffy. The animal at once carried it to 

 his mouth and commenced to bite it. 

 The candy was somewhat soft, and stuck 

 to the monkey's paws. He looked at his 

 paws, licked them with his tongue, and 

 then turned his head from side to side 



looking about the cage. Then, taking 

 the candy in his mouth, he sprang to 

 the fartlier end of the cage and picked 

 up a wad of brown paper. This ball of 

 paper he carefully unfolded, and, lay- 

 ing it down on the floor of the cage, 

 carefully smoothed out the folds of the 

 paper with both paws. After he had 

 smoothed it out to his satisfaction, he 

 took the piece of taffy from his mouth 

 and laid it in the center of the piece 

 of paper and folded the paper over the 

 candy, leaving a part of it exposed. He 

 then sat back on his haunches and ate 

 the candy, first wiping one paw and 

 then the other on his hip, just as any 

 boy or man might do. 



If that monkey did not show reason, 

 what would you call it? 



Yours etc., H. O. Hall, 

 Library Snrgeon General's Office, United 

 l^iitates Army. 

 Washington, D. C, October 2, 1809. 



Editor's ^^mt. 



HOME BURDENS. 



THE doctrine has gone abroad, 

 suggested by the most popular 

 poet of the day, that "white men" 

 have the duty laid upon them of 

 scouring the dark places of the earth 

 for burdens to take up. Through a 

 large part of this nation the idea 

 has run like wildfire, infecting not a 

 few who themselves are in no small 

 degree burdens to the community 

 that shelters them. The rowdier 

 element of the population every- 

 where is strongly in favor of the 

 new doctrine, which to their minds 

 is chiefly illustrated by the shoot- 

 ing of Filipinos. We do not say 

 that thousands of very respectable 

 citizens are not in favor of it also; 

 we only note that they are strongly 

 supported by a class whose adhesion 

 adds no strength to their cause. 

 It is almost needless to remark 



that a very few years ago we were 

 not in the way of thinking that the 

 civilized nations of the earth, which 

 had sliced up Asia and Africa in the 

 interest of their trade, had done 

 so in the performance of a solemn 

 duty. The formula " the white 

 man's burden " had not been in- 

 vented then, and some of us used 

 to think that there was more of the 

 filibustering spirit than of a high 

 humanitarianism in these raids 

 upon barbarous races. Possibly we 

 did less than justice to some of the 

 countries concerned, notably Great 

 Britain, which, having a teeming 

 population in very narrow confines, 

 and being of old accustomed to ad- 

 ventures by sea, had naturally been 

 led to extend her influence and cre- 

 ate outlets for her trade in distant 

 parts of the earth. Be this as it 

 may, we seemed to have our own 



