THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS 
241 
experiments made by the aid of the phonograph, which 
caught, and reproduced when required, the character- 
istic tones of monkey chatter, will be anxious to learn 
whether the increase in the numbers and variety of the 
experiments recorded strengthened or weakened the 
conclusions which Mr. Garner first formed. With 
one important modification, he is still confident that 
he has obtained evidence, not only of the existence of 
a form of speech current between monkeys, but of the 
meaning and modifications of some of the sounds 
in use. The exception is one which would occur to 
most minds on reading the evidence, if not from 
natural probability. He no longer claims for monkeys 
any one speech common to all races, a universal 
6 Simian tongue,” which if it existed would argue a 
greater uniformity among the diversities of monkey 
structure than exists among the uniformity of human 
physique. The experiments on which Mr. Garner 
based his conclusion, that there is a common “ Simian 
tongue,” was no doubt difficult to explain on any other 
supposition, for having obtained on his phonograph a 
record of the sounds made by two chimpanzees, he 
found that a note which he translated to mean a milk,” 
but which he subsequently took to stand for “ food ” 
in general, was used by the Capuchin monkey in ap- 
parently the same sense. He now believes that the 
sounds are only understood by members of the same 
species. This admission agrees with the views of the 
keepers, who maintain that the cries and exclamations 
of different species of monkey, when expressing the 
