308 PLEASANT WA YS IN SCIENCE. 



As to the intelligence exhibited in the conduct of the 

 chimpanzee and orang-outang, various opinions may be 

 formed according to the various circumstances under which 

 the animals are observed. The following has been quoted 

 in evidence of the superiority of the chimpanzee in this 

 respect : About fifty years ago, a young chimpanzee and 

 an orang-outang of about the same age were exhibited 

 together at the Egyptian Hall. The chimpanzee, though in 

 a declining state of health, and rendered peevish and 

 irritable by bodily suffering, exhibited much superior marks 

 of intelligence to his companion ; he was active, quick, and 

 observant of everything that passed around him ; no new- 

 visitor entered the apartment in which he was kept, and no 

 one left it, without attracting his attention. The orang 

 outang, on the contrary, exhibited a melancholy and a dis- 

 regard of passing occurrences almost amounting to apathy ; 

 and though in the enjoyment of better health, was evidently 

 much inferior to his companion in quickness and observa- 

 tion. On one occasion, when the animals were dining on 

 potatoes and boiled chicken, and surrounded as usual with 

 a large party of visitors, the orang-outang allowed her plate 

 to be taken without exhibiting the least apparent concern. 

 Not so, however, the chimpanzee. We took advantage of 

 an opportunity when his head was turned (to observe a 

 person coming in) to secrete his plate also. For a few 

 seconds he looked round to see what had become of it, but, 

 not finding it, began to pout and fret exactly like a spoiled 

 child, and perceiving a young lady, who happened to be 

 standing near him, laughing, perhaps suspecting her to be the 

 delinquent, he flew at her in the greatest rage, and would 

 probably have bitten her had she not got beyond his reach. 

 Upon having his plate restored, he took care to prevent the 

 repetition of the joke by holding it firmly with one hand, 

 while he fed himself with the other." 



This story can hardly be regarded as deciding the ques- 

 tion in favour of the chimpanzee. Many animals, admittedly 

 Car inferior to the lowest order of monkeys in intelligence, 



