THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS 
245 
ments, from which he now writes, do not tend to 
clear away this difficulty. 
The Capuchins, which are alike the most voluble 
and the cleverest [of the smaller monkeys, have a 
sound which Professor Garner first translated as 
u food,” but to which he subsequently found he must 
attach a wider meaning. He now thinks that when 
modulated in one way the sound means a certain kind 
of food, and when modulated in another, it means 
“ give,” or “ give me that.” By repeating it to a 
Capuchin, he often induced it to hand over a part of 
its food, or some plaything. But it would be possible 
to infer from this that the sound was a mere expression 
of desire, and not really different from the mewing of 
a cat when it wants its kittens returned, or a door 
opened. The word for “ drink ” he still considers to 
be distinct from that expressing “ food,” and fixed 
alike in form and meaning. The sound which he took 
to mean “ weather,” because uttered by a sick monkey 
when a storm burst, has now resolved itself into a 
general expression of discontent. The alarm sound is 
dual, one form, “ e-c-g-k,” expressing fear, another, 
“ c-h-i,” merely calling attention. But some animals, 
such as the elephant, have more than one “ warning 
sound,” and warning sounds in themselves do not 
constitute “ speech ” ; nor does the fact that the 
Professor has been able to reproduce and get replies 
to the “ food sound ” of the rhesus and cebus monkeys 
prove more than that he has been a clever and careful 
observer of a particular exclamation. He thinks, 
