1889.] FACULTIES OF THE BALD CHIMPANZEE. 317 



infancy, and therefore higher than that which is presented by any 

 brute, so far at least as I have met with any evidence to show. 

 Nevertheless, the only attempts that she makes by way of vocal 

 response are three peculiar grunting noises — one indicative of assent 

 or affirmation, another (very closely resembling the first) of dissent 

 or negation, and the third (quite different from the other two) of 

 thanks or recognition of favours. In disposition she is somewhat 

 capricious, though on the whole good-humoured, fond of her keepers, 

 and apparently never tired of a kind of bantering play which off and 

 on they keep up with her continually. By vocalizing in a peculiar 

 monotone (imitative of the beginning of her own "song"), they are 

 usually able to excite her into the performance of a remarkable 

 series of actions. First she shoots out her lips into the well-known 

 tubular forms (depicted in Darx^in's ' Expression of the Emotions,' 

 p. 141), while at the same time she sings a strange howling note, 

 interrupted at regular intervals : these, however, rapidly become 

 shorter and shorter, while the vocalization becomes louder and louder, 

 winding up to a climax of shrieks and yells, sometimes accompanied 

 with a drumming of the hind feet and a vigorous shaking of the 

 network which constitutes her cage. The whole performance ends 

 with a few grunts. 



A year or two ago it occurred to me that I might try some psycho- 

 logical experiments on the intelligence of this animal. The circum- 

 stances in which she is placed, however, did not prove favourable 

 for anything Hke systematic instruction. Being constantly exposed 

 to the gaze of a number of people coming and going, and having 

 her attention easily distracted by them, the ape was practically 

 available for purposes of tuition only during the early hours of the 

 morning, before the menagerie is open to the public ; and, as a rule, 

 I did not find it convenient to attend at that time. Therefore, the 

 results which I am about to describe do not in my opinion represent 

 what might fairly have been expected under more favourable condi- 

 tions ; if the Chimpanzee could have been kept as a domestic pet 

 for a few months (as I kept a Cebus kindly lent me for the pur- 

 poses of psychological observation by this Society), there can be 

 no doubt that many much more interesting results might have been 

 obtained. Nevertheless, it appears to me that even those which 

 thus far have been obtained are worthy of being placed on record ; 

 and although some of them have already been published a few 

 months ago in my work on ' Mental Evolution in Man,' since that 

 time some further progress has been made ; and therefore in the 

 present paper I will state together all the facts which have been 

 hitherto observed. 



Having enlisted the intelligent cooperation of the keepers, I re- 

 quested them to ask the ape repeatedly for one straw, two straws, or 

 three straws. These she was to pick up and hand out from among 

 the litter in her cage. No constant order was to be observed in 

 making these requests, but whenever she handed a number not 

 asked for, her offer was to be refused, while if she gave the proper 

 number her offer was to be accepted, and she was to receive a piece 



