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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



this cue. The monkey was provided 

 with a suitable hammer, nails, and a 

 board. He went to work irhmediately, 

 and although he exhibited no construc- 

 tive ability, his skill, without tuition, 

 in handling hammer and nails and in 

 driving the latter into the board or 

 elsewhere, according to his taste, more 

 than equaled that of the unpracticed 

 human. In the presence of the same 

 outfit of tools, Jimmie threw the ham- 

 mer into one corner of his cage, scat- 

 tered the nails about the floor, and pro- 

 ceeded to tear the board to pieces with 

 his teeth. Never did he exhibit the 

 least inclination to use hammer and 

 nails independently or together as tools 

 or implements. 



"When given a saw, rendered inde- 

 structible by metallic guards for the 

 handle, and a heavy wooden block on 

 M'hich the saw might be used, Skirrl 

 was manifestly pleased. He used the 

 saw in quite as many and varied ways 

 as might a boy of four or five years. 

 By sawing before him at various times, 

 the observer tried to teach him to use 

 it in the conventional human way. But 

 to this he paid scant attention, prefer- 

 ring, it seemed, to Avork out his own 

 modes of anuisement. Finally, he hit 

 upon a way of using the saw which we 

 have been told is in vogue among cer- 

 tain peoples of the East. Sitting on 

 the floor, he held it, teeth uppermost, 

 his feet grasping the handle tightly and 

 holding the saw firmly in position. He 

 then grasped a nail by both ends and 

 rubbed it rapidly over the teeth of the 

 saw, thus producing a noise which evi- 

 dently delighted his soul. 



It is clear enough from the responses 

 of other monkeys of the same and op- 

 posite sex (the same and other species) 

 to saw, hammer, and nails, as well as to 

 other implements, that Skirrl's beha- 

 vior must be described as hiichlv indi- 



vidual or temperamental. Never have 

 we observed anything comparable with 

 it in any untaught Primate other than 

 the human. We have agreed to call 

 Skirrl's behavior an expression of ge- 

 nius, for the more we consider the 

 matter the more certain we feel that 

 this particular individual possesses re- 

 markably strong tendencies to react to 

 certain objects as tools or mechanical 

 devices. From our point of view, he 

 130ssesses an unusual type of interest or 

 the same to an unusual degree. Feeble- 

 minded though he may be as far as 

 most intellectual requirements are con- 

 cerned, he is a genius in mechanical 

 manipulation, and to him we feel in- 

 debted for a new point of view and for 

 new insight into the meaning of genius. 



The anthropoid apes are so manlike 

 in appearance and behavior that we 

 should be surprised were they not 

 highly individualized and possessed of 

 temperamental traits as well as forms 

 of genius strikingly similar to our 

 own. Our opportunities for intimate 

 acquaintance with the higher apes have 

 been disappointingly few, but with one 

 young orang-utan whom we knew as 

 Julius, we came into delightfully 

 friendly relations. Julius was not born 

 in captivity — few anthropoid apes have 

 that advantage, or disadvantage— but 

 he was captured young, and when we 

 knew him in California, he was prob- 

 ably not far from five years old. Al- 

 ready we have recorded in print many 

 interesting features of his behavior, as 

 well as our strong conviction of the 

 supreme importance to science and to 

 other aspects of civilization of the 

 thorough study of the anthropoid apes.^ 



Julius one day was resting placidly 



' Yerkes, Robert M. Provision for the Study of 

 Monkeys and Apes. Science, 1916 N. S., 43: 

 231-234. 



Yerkes, Robert M. The Mental Life of Mon- 

 keys and Apes: a Study of Ideational Behavior. 

 Biliarior Monoi/raphs, 1916: 3: Serial No. 12. 



