56 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
and affectionate animal, and it is impossible not to be taken witli the expressive gestures and looks with 
which he courts your good opinion, and throws himself upon you for protection against annoyance.” 
Whether they grow cross and savage as they get old is not known, for no adults have been kept 
in captivity, but as this is usual in other Monkeys, it is probable that their interesting time of life is 
that of childhood, and that when the age of fun and tricks has passed there is not much else but 
brutality left. 
Little or nothing reliable is known about the habits of the adults, and all the wickednesses of 
Gorillas and Baboons have been attributed to them, and, in fact, the very same stories will do for any 
one of them. 
These stories have, however, been believed ; and even Cuvier, the great comparative anatomist, 
wrote, that the Chimpanzees live in troops, construct themselves huts of leaves, arm themselves with 
sticks and stones, and employ these weapons to drive away men and Elephants from their dwellings. 
They did not, he believed, scruple to attack the Lion, and they were exceedingly impolite to negresses 
in general. 
As they all, except possibly the Soko, live in a district, where the forests are dense and close, 
there is no doubt they are rarely seen ; and indeed reliable travellers do not hesitate to say that a 
white man has never seen them in a state of nature, except by obtaining a glance as they rush 
off on being surprised. All the stories must, therefore, be received with suspicion, as tainted with the 
results of African fear and love of the wonderful ; especially as they come from the negro race living in 
the remarkable tract of country extending along the West Coast from the river Gambia to some 
distance north of Angola, and thence into the interior to the little known regions between the 
hills which run parallel with the sea many miles inland, and the country of the large lakes far away 
to the East. 
Gifted with wonderful agility and no little power of imitation and intelligence, and possessed of 
very acute senses and ability to unite the actions of many groups of muscles to a common purpose, the 
Chimpanzee must have a well-formed nervous system — that is to say, a good brain and spinal cord. A 
brain to originate or commence actions, and the cord of nerves to carry the orders of the brain to the 
limbs. Measured over the brain case of the skull, that of the Chimpanzee has a bulk of about 
one-half of that of man, and less than that of the Gorilla ; but the brain itself has striking resem- 
blances with that of man. The principal folds which are noticed on the human brain exist in the 
Chimpanzee, but they are simpler in their foldings, and are large in proportion to the whole. This 
means that there is not as much nerve s tincture packed in a, given space as there is in man ; and 
the distinction is most important, for the greater the packing the greater the nervous energy and 
power. But the parts of the brain which have especially to do with the movements of the body, 
and their regulations and adaptations, are very well formed; and it is the comparative deficiency in 
those parts which have a mysterious relation with the intelligence, instinct, and the mind which 
causes the brain of the Chimpanzee to differ in appearance and size from that of man. But in both the 
brain proper over-laps and covers the cerebellum or little brain. The nerves are well formed and large. 
It seems that the brain of the Chimpanzee never has a chance of increasing in size, for after a 
certain age the bones of the brain case become, as it were, soldered together. 
The Chimpanzee has a famous pair of shoulders, a broad back, and, like the Gorilla, a very short 
neck. Its weight is less than that of the greatest of Apes, and therefore it does not require such 
huge muscles for climbing. The great bony spines of the neck-bones are smaller ; and the bones of the 
upper part of the spine are not made as strongly. 
Loving much to hang by the hands, with the arms stretched out above the head, the Chimpanzee 
has the blade-bone more like that of an ordinary Monkey, and less like that of man and the Gorilla, 
and its muscles are so placed as to permit of their acting readily when this position is kept up. As 
this position is extremely easy and useful, it is assisted by the animal’s having a short and stout 
collar-bone. Its arm-bone is tolerably near the length of that of man, but it is like a Gorilla’s in 
miniature. The bones of the fore-arm (the radius and ulna), instead of being shorter than the arm-bone, 
equal it in length, and the last named is much bent, so as to give a large surface for the muscles whicn 
supply the hand and wrist. 
As a whole, the hand of the Chimpanzee is, in proportion to the size of the animal, larger than 
