244 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



and through '^ instinctive imitation/' to which 

 Nature had made his kind prone, he did the same 

 thing that he had watched Elmore do, but for 

 no mental ^^ reason" whatever. 



Again. The famous surgeon, the late Mr Listen, 

 he, too, kept a monkey, in a cage in the room 

 where he received his patients, and this monkey, 

 like Elmore's monkey, narrowly watched the 

 master-hand ; and it appeared that while any sort 

 of operation was going on, the monkey sat absorbed 

 in instinctive and meditative and amused interest. 

 At the time of these skilful proceedings, the poor 

 monkey, of course, was unnoticed, and sat very 

 quiet in his cage ; but, strange to say, day by day 

 became ill, and for a time Listen himself could not 

 account for liis indisposition. It was discovered at 

 last, however, that the imitative and ^^instinctive" 

 genius of the monkey had been aroused by what 

 he had seen his master do ; so when left to him- 

 self, being solitary and without a j^atient, and not 

 having much choice of surgical instruments, he 

 used the straw in the bottom of his cage, in lieu of 

 instruments, u2)on himself, and brought on at last 

 a painful dissolution. 



Here, then, in these two incidents, we have 



