132 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS, 



one should be called reason and that of the other 

 called instinct. Scholars have tried so hard to 

 keep the peace between theology and themselves 

 that they have explained things in accordance 

 with accepted belief, in order that they might not 

 incur the charge of heresy. To this end they 

 have reconciled the two extremes by ignoring 

 the means, and making a distinction without a 

 difference on which to found it. 



Whatever may be the intrinsic difference be- 

 tween reason and instinct, it is evident to my 

 mind that the same motives actuate both man 

 and ape in the same way, but not to the same ex- 

 tent. I am aware that many acts performed by 

 simians are meaningless to them, and done with- 

 out a well-defined motive. The strong physical 

 resemblance between man and ape often causes 

 one to attach more importance to an act than it 

 really justifies. In many cases the same act per- 

 formed by some other animal less like man would 

 scarcely be noticed. To teach an ape or monkey 

 to eat with knife, fork, cup, and spoon, to use a 

 napkin and chair, or such like feats does not in- 

 dicate to my mind a high order of reason ; nor is 

 it safe to judge the mental status of these creat- 

 ures from such data. When he is placed under 



