MONKEYS. 53 



the sum-total of human life and structure, is also said to exist in the 

 apes in "a rude, inharmonious, and undeveloped state." If even 

 we admit the justice of the latter statement and I am very far 

 from making any such admission it is scientifically tenable, that, 

 however " rude " or " inharmonious " the characters and life of 

 the apes, as a class, may be, from allied or similar characters the 

 higher human life has been evolved. As a matter of fact, there 

 is no combination of characters to be found in any other group 

 of the quadrupeds more harmonious or more elaborated than that 

 seen in the apes. If the actual structural perfections of the monkey- 

 tribe be taken into account, it will be found, I think, on the whole, 

 to excel that of any other group of mammals. There is practically 

 no order of the quadruped class which does not include within its 

 limits beings of low and high organisation. Hence in all com- 

 parisons of the ape order with other orders of animals we must take 

 this fact into account ; and it is exactly this latter consideration which 

 Mr. Wallace seems to me to have tacitly ignored. Leaving the 

 highest apes out of the question, it may be shown, that in the 

 monkey-tribes which people the Old and New Worlds, there are re- 

 presented characters, both of body and mind, which certainly equal 

 and often excel anything we find in dogs, horses, elephants, or other 

 animals. Lastly, if we even consider the ways and works of the 

 lowest races of men, we may discover that the sphere of humanity 

 itself may be found to include much that is the reverse of harmo- 

 nious, and many features which represent the antipodes of beauty. 

 Beyond all such considerations, however, there remains the plain con- 

 tention that, as a group, the apes exist at the upper confines of the 

 quadruped class, and that, in their mental phases, they fully realise 

 the utmost expectations of the naturalist. To quote the words of 

 Dr. G. J. Romanes, " Notwithstanding the scarcity of the material 

 which I have to present, I think there is enough to show that the 

 mental life of the Simiadce is of a distinctly different type from any 

 that we have hitherto considered, and that in their psychology, as in 

 their anatomy, these animals approach most nearly to Homo sapiens." 

 To the investigation of the mental phases of ape character, we may 

 now direct our attention. 



Some three years ago, I began to keep a number of monkeys 

 in confinement in a large and roomy cage in my house. I instructed 

 my servants to note carefully any special actions of the monkeys 

 which they might observe ; and the animals were also watched 

 from day to day by members of my family circle on whose accounts 

 I could place implicit reliance. I may add, that in nearly every 

 instance I have been able to verify the observations of others re- 

 garding the habits of my pets. The first two monkeys I selected 

 for domestication were purposely chosen of widely different species, 



