94 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



have been equally morose and unresponsive, and lived fewer 

 months than Dinah. .„ 



It is because of such animals as Dinah that for fifty years 

 the mental status of the gorilla species has been under a cloud. 

 Until now it has been much misunderstood and unappreciated. 

 Of the few gorillas that have been seen in England and America, 

 I think that all save John have been so morose and unrespon- 

 sive, and so undeveloped by companionship and trainings that 

 mentally they have been rated far below the chimpanzee and 

 orang. 



Our own Dinah was no exception to the rule. Personally 

 she was a stupid little thing, even when in excellent health. 

 Her most pronounced and exasperating stupidities were shown 

 in her refusal to eat, or to taste, strange food, even when 

 very hungry. Any ape that does not know enough to eat a fine, 

 ripe banana, and will only mince away at the inner lining of 

 the banana skin, is an unmitigated numskull, and hardly fit 

 to live. Dinah was all that, and more. But, alas! We have 

 seen a few stupid human children who obstinately refused even 

 to taste certain new and unknown kinds of food, because they 

 "know" they will not like them ! So Dinah was not alone in her 

 childish folly. 



At last a chain of circumstances placed an intellectual and 

 sensible gorilla, two years of age, in the hands of a family 

 specially fitted by education and home surroundings to develop 

 its mind and its manners. The results of those efforts have 

 given to the gorilla an entirely new mental status. Thanks to 

 the enterprise and diligence of Major Rupert Penny and Miss 

 Cunningham in purchasing and caring for a sick and miserable 

 young male gorilla, — a most hazardous risk, — a new chapter in 

 wild-animal psychology now is to be written. 



In December, 191 8, "John Gorilla" was purchased in a 

 London department store, out of a daily atmosphere heated to 

 85 degrees, and a nightly condition of solitude and terror. 

 From that awful state it was taken to live in Major Penny's 



