The Speech of Monkeys

[Sidenote: SIGN COMMON TO MAN AND SIMIAN] A little more than a year ago, my attention was called to this sign by the children who own the little Capuchin, Jack, in Charlestown. A number of times they said to him in my presence, "Jack, you must go to bed." At which he would shake his little black head, as if he really did not wish to comply. I watched this with great interest; but it was my belief at that time that he had been trained to do this, and that the sign did not really signify to him anything at all. The children, however, declared to me that he really meant "no." To believe that he meant this would presuppose that he understood the combination of words quoted; and this was beyond the limits of my faith, although it was certain that a repetition of the sentence always elicited from him the same sign, which indicated that he recognised it as the same sentence or combination of sounds, and gave it the same reply each time. I concluded that he had been taught to associate this sign with some sound--for instance, "bed" or "go"; but since that time I have found the sign to be almost universal with this species of monkey, and they use the sign to express negation. I have seen them use the sign in response to certain things which were wholly new to them, but where the idea was clear to them and they desired to express dissent. The fact that this sign is common to both man and Simian, I regard as more than a mere coincidence; and I believe that in this sign I have found the psycho-physical basis of expression.