THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 6 1 



One of the most certain of my discoveries in 

 the simian speech is the negative sign and the 

 word "no." The sign is made by shaking the 

 head from side to side in a fashion almost ex- 

 actly like that used by man to express the same 

 idea. I have no longer any doubt of the intent 

 and meaning of this sign, and the many tests to 

 which I have subjected it compel me to accept 

 the result as final. 



A little more than a year ago my attention was 

 called to this sign by the children who own the 

 little Capuchin, Jack, in Charleston. A number 

 of times they said to him, in my presence : " Jack, 

 you must go to bed." At which he would shake 

 his little black head, as if he really did not wish to 

 comply. I watched this with great interest; but 

 it was my belief at that time that he had been 

 trained to do this, and that the sign did not 

 really signify to him anything at all. The chil- 

 dren, however, declared to me that he really 

 meant " no." To believe that he meant this would 

 presuppose that he understood the combination 

 of words quoted, and this was beyond the limits 

 of my faith, although it was certain that a repe- 

 tition of the sentence always elicited from him 

 the same sign, which indicated that he recog- 



