MONKEYS— DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM AND MEN. C77 



rae*al forest, and particularly within the last twenty years, naturalists and travelers 

 have devoted so much attention to this interesting family, that while in the year 1840 

 only 128 species were known, their numbers had increased in 1852 to no less than 

 210, a stately list, to which, since then, many more have been added, and which evea 

 now is far from being closed. 



The simite of the Old World are all distinguished by the common character of a 

 narrow septum or partition of the nose like that of man, and by the same number of 

 teeth, each jaw being provided with tea grinders, two canine teeth, and four incisors, 

 as in the human race. 



The large apes, or tailless monkeys, resemble us besides in many other respects, as 

 well in their external appearance as in their anatomical structure ; and form, as it 

 were, the caricature of man, both by their gestures and by glimpses of a higher intel- 

 ligence. 



Creatures so remarkably endowed have naturally at all times attracted a great share 

 of attention, for if even the lowest links in the chain of animated beings lay claim to 

 our interest, how much more must this not be the case with beings whose faculties 

 seem almost to raise them to the rank of our relations. The question how far this 

 similarity extends has naturally given rise to many acute investigations and been differ- 

 ently answered, according as naturalists were more or less inclined to depress man to 

 the level of the ape, or to widen the gulf between them. The former, pointing to the 

 brutality of the lowest savages, would willingly make us believe that we are nothing 

 but an improved edition of the Uran, while the latter complacently cite in favor of 

 their opinion, the incommensurable distance which exists between even the most de- 

 graded specimens of humanity and the most perfect quadrumana. Man alone is capable 

 of continually progressive improvement ; in him alone each generation inherits the ac- 

 quirements of its fathers and transmits the growing treasure to its sons, while the ape, 

 like all other animals, constantly remains at the same point. The lowest savage knows 

 how to make fire ; the ape, though he may have seen the operation performed a thou- 

 sand times, and have enjoyed the genial warmth of the glowing embers, will never 

 learn the simple art. His hairy skin is a sufficient proof of his low intellect, an 

 infallible sign that, as he never would be able to provide himself with an artificial 

 clothing. Nature was obliged to protect him against the inclemencies of the cold nights 

 and the pouring rain. As man advances in age, his mind acquires a greater depth 

 and a wider range. In the ape, on the contrary, signs of a livelier intelligence are 

 only exhibited duiing youth, and as the animal waxes in years, its physiognomy ac- 

 quires a more brutal expression ; its forehead recedes, its jaws project, and instead of 

 expanding to a higher perfection, its mental faculties are evidently clouded by a pre- 

 mature decline. 



Both in Africa and Asia, we find large anthropomorphous apes, but while the chim- 

 panzee and the gorilla exclusively belong to the African wilds, the orang and the gib- 

 bons are confined to the torrid regions of South Asia. 



The Chimpanzee {Simia troglodytes) attains a hight of about five feet, but seems 

 much smaller from his stooping attitude. He inhabits the dense forests on the west 

 coast of Africa, particularly near the river Gaboon, and as his travels are facilitated 

 by his fatherland not being too far distant from Europe, there is hardly a Zoological 

 Garden of any note that does not exhibit a chimpanzee among its lions. One of the 



