471 



CHAPTER XVII. 



MONKEYS, APES, AND BABOONS. 



We now come to the last group of animals which we shall 

 have occasion to consider, and these, from an evolutionary 

 point of view, are the most interesting. Unfortunately, 

 however, the intelligence of apes, monkeys, and baboons 

 has not presented material for nearly so many observations 

 as that of other intelligent mammals. Useless for all 

 purposes of labour or art, mischievous as domestic pets, 

 and in all cases troublesome to keep, these animals have 

 never enjoyed the improving influences of hereditary 

 domestication, while for the same reasons observation of 

 the intelligence of captured individuals has been com- 

 paratively scant. Still more unfortunately, these remarks 

 apply most of all to the most man-like of the group, 

 and the nearest existing prototypes of the human 

 race : our knowledge of the psychology of the anthropoid 

 apes is less than our knowledge of the psychology of any 

 other animal. But 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 dis- 

 tinctly different type from any that we have hitherto con- 

 sidered, and that in their psychology, as in their anatomy, 

 these animals approach most nearly to Homo sapiens. 



Emotions, 



Affection and sympathy are strongly marked — the 

 latter indeed more so than in any other animal, not even 

 •excepting the dog. A few instances from many that 

 might be quoted will be sufficient to show this. 



