Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1892 — THE MONKEY LANGUAGE. [ARTICLE]

THE MONKEY LANGUAGE.

Two Scientists who Do Not Agree With Prof. Garner. Prof. Garner's theory of a language among monkeys, as perfect and distinct in itself as that of tho human family, has not achieved any encouraging recognition among the scientists of the country. Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, takes a decided stand against Prof. Garner. At a meeting of the Nineteenth Century Club in New York City, on Tuesday evening, Prof. Garner explained his theory at some length. Dr. Brinton followed, and said that while the professor's scheme of preserving the various cries of the monkeys by means of the . honograph is on original and effective one, some of his ideas concerning a monkey language are, in his opinion, decidedly at fault. Prof. Garner holds that the articulate language of human beings is similar to the language of monkeys. Dr. Brinton could not agree with the professor on that point. •“Human speech,” he said, - ‘is not derived from the sensations of pain, pleasure, hunger or the like, us Prof. Garner holds. It is the development of the logical and not of the emotional faculty, and is tho simplest form of expression. If, for instance, a man were to address you in a language with which you were wholly unacquainted, he might be protesting his love for you, while you might believe he was expressing the opposite sentiment; and vice versa. With the brute language it is different. It is not necessary that one should bo a student of the language of dogs to understand the difference between the yelps of rage emitted by one of those animals when his tail is trodden upon, and the bark of joy at meeting his master. ■‘■‘Language is a purely conventional and manufactured product, such as the brute creation are not competent to produce. The cries of a monkey are very similar to the interjections of the human language, but like these parts of the human speech, they cannot be parsed. Therefore, I hold there is no language among monkeys.” Dr. Perry, professor of Sanskrit in Columbia College, agreed with the remarks of Dr. Brinton. Prof. Garner felt rather incensed at the remarks of these gentlemen, but still maintains that monkeys can speak, and will etart for tho scene of his peculiar researches in a week or so. —[Philadelphia Record.