SESSION 1892-93. xxxv 



Galon, but man was not scientifically classed as an animal until 

 the middle of tlie last century, when Linnaeus assiijned him a 

 genus and species [Homo sapiens). The classification now generally 

 accepted is that of Huxley, who places man with the four highest 

 genera of monkeys, the gorilla, chimpanzee, orang-utan, and 

 gibbon, which are known as the Anthropoid Apes. 



Tlie difference between the old-world and the new-world 

 monkeys was then shown, the former being known as the Catar- 

 rhine, and the latter as the Platyrhine apes. Fossil Catarrhine 

 apes have been found in Paraguay, from which it was inferred 

 that there had been some southern connection between the 

 American continent and the old world. Nearly all the American 

 monkeys have prehensile tails, but not a single old-world species 

 has the power of grasping by the tail. Man, as might be expected, 

 conforms entirely to the old-world type, the Catarrhine monkeys. 



In dissecting the anthropoid apes, rudiments of organs are found 

 which have played their part in the internal economy of their 

 remote ancestors, and it is the presence of such vestigial structures 

 in ourselves which so conclusively proves our community of 

 descent. Our possession, for instance, of useless rudiments of the 

 muscles which erect and depress the ears in other animals, can 

 only be explained by the theory of evolution. 



Mr. Stradling then passed in review some of the chief charac- 

 teristics of the four kinds of anthropoid, or man-like, apes — the 

 gorilla and chimpanzee of Equatorial Africa, and the orang-utan 

 and gibbon of Eastern Asia — showing in what respect each most 

 nearly approaches man. In treating of the chimpanzee he said 

 that it has a slight nasal intonation, a distinction enjoyed by 

 no other animal but man ; and that it can sing, its song, though 

 not very musical, being as good as that of many savages. The 

 most interesting of the chimpanzees which have lived at the 

 Zoological Gardens was Sally, and he thought it was hardly 

 too much to say that the services rendered to zoology by her were 

 second only, in the present century, to those of Darwin. Sally 

 lived with us eight or nine years, and was about eleven years 

 old when she died. She seemed to get perfectly acclimatized. 

 Her arithmetical attainments were well known. She counted 

 accurately up to ten, and many savages can do no more than 

 reckon with their fingers, but they have a greater potential 

 capacity. When counting straws, Sally had an idea of multiplica- 

 tion which was quite her own ; if she had not enough she would 

 get impatient and double them over so that each straw presented 

 two ends, and it was noticeable that she only looked at the straws 

 and not at her keeper. She would take a definite number of bites 

 at an apple, with a large bite for the final one, so that it is certain 

 she made a mental note of each bite. She completely undermined 

 man's claim to be the only animal who can laugh, for she laughed 

 all over her face like a Negro child does, but not audibly, that 

 doubtless being an art acquired by man. She had a decided sense 

 of humour. He once gave her a banana, and a silvery gibbon, of 



