6 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



assured of ultimate success. I went to Washing- 

 ton and proposed the novel experiment of acting 

 as interpreter between two monkeys. Of course, 

 this first evoked from the great fathers of science 

 a smile of incredulity ; but when I explained the 

 means by which I expected to accomplish this, a 

 shadow of seriousness came over the faces of 

 those dignitaries to whom I first proposed the 

 novel feat. I procured a phonograph * upon 

 which to record the sounds of the monkeys. I 

 separated two monkeys which had occupied the 

 same cage together for some time, and placed 

 them in separate rooms of the building, where 

 they could not see or hear each other. I then 

 arranged the phonograph near the cage of the 

 female, and by various means induced her to 

 utter a few sounds, which were recorded on the 

 cylinder of the instrument. The machine was 

 then placed near the cage containing the male 

 and the record repeated to him, and his conduct > 

 closely studied. He gave evident signs of recog- 

 nizing the sounds, and at once began a search 

 for the mysterious monkey doing the talking. 



* While I use the word phonograph throughout this work, 

 I must state that many of my experiments were made with 

 the graphophone. 



