THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 215 



N'ext to the child, the monkey is the most curious of 

 animals. I repeat the anecdote often cited from Dar- 

 win as the best example we have : " Brehm gives a 

 curious account of the instinctive dread which his mon- 

 keys exhibited toward snakes, but their curiosity was so 

 great that they could not desist from occasionally sati- 

 ating their horror in the most human fashion — by lifting 

 up the lid of the box in which the snakes were kept. 

 I was so much surprised at his account that I took a 

 stuffed and coiled-up snake into the monkey house at 

 the Zoological Gardens, and the excitement thus caused 

 was one of the most curious spectacles which I ever 

 beheld. Three species of the Cercopithecus were the 

 most alarmed; they dashed about their cages and ut- 

 tered sharp signal cries of danger which were under- 

 stood by the other monkeys. ... I then placed the 

 stuffed specimen on the ground in one of the larger com- 

 partments. After a time all the monkeys collected 

 round it in a large circle, and, staring intently, pre- 

 sented a most ludicrous appearance. ... I then placed 

 a live snake in a paper bag, with the mouth loosely 

 closed, in one of the larger compartments. Then I 

 witnessed what Brehm has described, for monkey after 

 monkey, with head raised high and turned on one side, 

 could not resist taking momentary peeps into the up- 

 right bag at the dreadful object lying quiet at the bot- 

 tom." * 



That dogs, too, are curious is a familiar fact. A 

 strange dog attracts immediate attention, and a favourite 

 curb excites as much interest as a lonely tourist bestows 

 on the register of his inn. Curiosity adds to the watch- 

 children by play (Revue philosophique, April, 1885). But, in curi- 

 osity, attention itself becomes play. 



* Descent of Man. vol. i, p. 41. 

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