MAMMALOGY. 



with which this animal was treated by Mr. Cross, the proprietor of 

 the Exeter Change Menagery to whose care he was consigned, for many 

 of those traits of his sagacity that were ehcited ; and it is impossible 

 to say to what extent those might have further been developed under 

 his care had the animal survived a few years longer. We cannot but 

 perceive that the intelligence of this animal was so conspicuous and 

 his manners so engaging, that in defiance of a form which by many 

 might be deemed somewhat at least repulsive, no one was sparing of 

 their kindness or attention in rendering his life of captivity as com- 

 fortable, as life can be, to a being so apparently gifted with powers of 

 discrimination, when deprived of his natural liberty and the society of 

 his kindred kind ^. Let us place this simple narrative of facts ; those 

 mental emanations of an animal, which, from its size and consequently 

 age, can be considered only as the Orang-Outang in a state of infancy, 

 against the hypothesis of speculative writers, and judge whether they 

 are just when they pronounce that the intellectual powers of these 

 animals are not greater than those of the dog. Every one will be dis- 

 posed to allow that the intelligence of the dog is very great and 

 commands our admiration ; but who in the Orang-Outang, even in 

 its infant state, does not perceive an intelligence far superior ? An 

 intelHgence so analogous at least in its similitude to the reasoning 

 powers of man, that it may be doubted whether in a state of wildness 

 and in association with the brute creation, the human race would not 

 appear more distantly removed from the semblance of humanity than 

 the Orang-Outang. It seems possible, at least by early tuition, to 



* It is said to exjst in a state of society as a distinct race of men in the 

 forests of Sumatra. 



