256 



MONKEY. 



is repulsive to every body. This repulsiveness of 

 appearance is, however, somewhat redeemed by 

 their extreme agility ; and on this account, though 

 monkeys are in some instances very mischievous and 

 very ugly animals, they are attractive in a menagerie, 

 especially to the young ; and, where extensive col- 

 lections of live animals are kept, a crowd will be 

 generally found in front of the dens or cages contain- 

 ing the monkeys. The true apes are animals of 

 more grave character ; and the baboons are exceed- 

 ingly repulsive in their appearance, and offensive in 

 many of their habits, as well as exceedingly ferocious 

 in their dispositions ; so that the monkeys are the 

 only division of the quadrumana which can be looked 

 upon with anything like satisfaction. This satisfac- 

 tion is not produced by their appearance, but by their 

 actions, their lively motions, their mischievous tricks, 

 and, in minds of more tender cast, by the extreme 

 attachment which the mothers have for their young, 

 and, indeed, all the individuals of any one species for 

 the other. When exhibited in our comparatively 

 cold climate (for our temperate weather is more 

 rigorous than the depth of winter to those children 

 of the tropical forests), the efforts of two monkeys to 

 keep each other warm, by each clasping round the 

 body of the other, and the still greater efforts which 

 a male and female make to keep a young one warm 

 between them, are among the prettiest displays of 

 animal solicitude with which we are acquainted. 



There is of course none of what we are in the habit 

 of calling kindness that is, kindness from aforethought 

 purpose, and with the intention of producing a specific 

 effect, of which a knowledge has been obtained by 

 experience, in any part of the conduct of monkeys, 

 any more than in that of other creatures not endowed 

 with reason ; but still the act of an irrational animal 

 tells upon our feelings, very much in the same way 

 as if it were the act of a rational one ; and therefore 

 we feel a sympathetic pleasure in the apparent kindness 

 of such an animal, very nearly allied to what we 

 would feel in the case of that which we consider an 

 analogous action performed by one of our own species. 

 This is no doubt a mistake in the philosophy of the 

 case ; but it is a mistake on the part of kindness; and 

 it is not only a confession on our part of the delight- 

 fulness of tender conduct, but it strongly induces us 

 to be tender of the animals themselves ; and thus, by 

 our sympathy with those irrational creatures, we, 

 without perhaps knowing it, make them the means of 

 kindheartedness in ourselves, which is one of the 

 most valuable results that we can obtain from the 

 study of animals. 



The active means which these little creatures 

 (for they are, generally speaking, little in volume ol 

 their bodies, though large in the lineal dimensions,) 

 must employ in the finding of their food, and the 

 danger to which their young are exposed from 

 more powerful animals, render it necessary that the 

 females should be able to carry the young along with 

 them in their rapid movements among the branches. 

 For this purpose both mother and young are beauti- 

 fully adapted. The pectoral part of the body of every 

 monkey is by far the most muscular and robust in its 

 form, while the ventral and sacral parts of the trunk 

 are attenuated, so much so that this portion appears 

 in some of the species, as if it were nothing more 

 than a stalk to the hind legs ; at all events it is never 

 such as to impede their motions or encumber them 

 by its weight. Now the young monkey so applies 



tself to the body of its mother as that it in no way 

 mpedes her motions, and is, in fact, the least possible 

 )urden to her that so much additional weight could 

 >e. The clavicles are stout and long for her size, by 

 which means the breadth of the chest is ample, and 

 he shoulder joints are thrown wide apart. The fore 

 egs of the young clasp her round the neck, or at all 

 vents the hands upon these hold on the immovable 

 )art of the shoulder, between the clavicle and the 

 jlade-bone, so that their points of adhesion do not 

 nterfere with any of the moving parts. These mem- 

 jers in the young one are so long that it can reach 

 he pectoral mammae of the mother without weakening 

 ts own hold or cramping her motions ; and then its 

 lind legs clasp the body so far forwards, that they 

 eave the posterior extremities free for every operation 

 of climbing. Therefore a female monkey, loaded with 

 a young one, has very nearly, if not altogether, 

 the same use of her organs of motion as though 

 she were without any load, because the young one ad- 

 heres by its own exertion, which exertion strengthens 

 in proportion to its weight. This is not confined to 

 tbe monkey tribe, but extends to all those tree mam- 

 malia which carry their young along with them as 

 they climb in search of their food. Such mammalia 

 have seldom more than two at a birth ; and it is 

 highly probable that nature endows them with addi- 

 tional strength to compensate for the labour of carry- 

 ing their young ones, and the exhaustion of suckling 

 them. The way in which nature adapts the capabilities 

 of females to the necessities which their functions in 

 the economy of nature require, is both a curious and 

 a beautiful portion of physiology, and it deserves to 

 be studied with far more attention than it has hitherto 

 met with. Common observation tells us that, if the 

 safety of the young required, the degree of strength 

 or courage, or both, with which the female can be 

 endowed for the occasion, is not to be estimated by 

 any ordinary comparison between her and the male. 

 A common hen, when she has no brood, is one of the 

 most feeble and timid of creatures ; but give her once 

 a following of chickens to gather under her wings 

 when they are cold or wearied, and the eagle herself 

 has not more daring. She can not only set the raven 

 and the kite at defiance, but will at once fly in the 

 face of a dog or fox with such determination as to 

 send them speedily to their retreat. 



Now, in the same manner as this mother is furnished 

 with the means of protecting her offspring in their 

 helpless state, we may naturally suppose that every 

 other mother will be strenghened for the time ac- 

 cording to the necessities which that time involves ; 

 and that among others, the female monkey will be 

 endowed with additional strength and energy, in 

 order to enable her to carry the burden of her young 

 one, and at the same time procure the additional sup- 

 plv of food which the drain occasioned by that young 

 one renders necessary. 



There is no monkey found native in any temperate 

 climate ; neither is there any which is perfectly at 

 home and in full vigour when carried to such a cli- 

 mate. It is true that monkeys are more hardy than 

 apes properly so called, and perhaps even than ba- 

 boons, though the repulsive appearance and offensive 

 manners of these last hold out little inducement for 

 making experiments upon them ; but still even in our 

 climates, and protected in buildings, if these buildings 

 are not artificially warmed, they suffer severely in the 

 winters of the mildest districts of England, and can- 



