Miscellaneous Back Matter [pp. 472A-RD06]

THE SERPENTS THE APE AND THE NEGRO.
organs of speech, or any kind of articulate sound;" but here
the ape has no advantage, for their "chattering" is not articu late. The Edinburgh Enevelopoedia says they have "never
been -taught the use of articulate speech." Dr. Clarke thinks it
quite significant that Solomoni compares "the nachlash to the
babbler," and that the ape kind, "for chattering and babbling,
have no fellows in the animal world." But the comparison is
instituted, not with reference to that characteristic, but to bit ing. Soloimoin does not say that the nachash will chatter with out enchantment; but, "surely, the n.achash will bite without
enchantment; and the babbler is no better."* Upon this passage Dr. Clarke remarks that belo lachash, "without enchant ment," may be rendered, " without hissing," which would indicate that the hissing serpent is alluded to rather than the
chattering ape. Dr. Clarke proceeds to unfold the nme-ning of
the passage, thus:
"As a snake may bite before it hiss, so also will the babbler, talkative
person, or calumniator. Without directly speaking evil, he insinuates, by
inuendoes, things injurious to the reputation of his neighbor. The moral is,
that the calumniator is as dangerous as a poisonous serpent, and from the
envenomed( tongue of slander and detraction no man is safe."
Substitute ape or orang oultang for serpent, and Solomon's
appropriate and forcible comparison, with Dr. Clarklie's exposition of it, will be rendered ridiculous.
Dr. Clarke urges that' the subtilty, cunning, endless and
varied pranks and tricks" of the simia race, "show themn, even
now, to be wiser and more intelligent than any other creature,
man alone excepted." But, in opposition to this, various
authorities state their tricks give evidence rather of the patience, and often the brutality, of the excepted creature, man."
"The orang outang (S. troglodytes) in the proportion of its members and
form of the head, most closely resembles the human kind. They are always
obtained very young, and trained to the performance of actions which their
exhibitors afterward are careful to say have been acquired by voluntary
imitation. It is, however, only after long and painful discipline that this
education is effected; and this once terminated, they advance no farther.
They never exhibit as much sagacity as is shown by a good dog, nor are
they capable of an equal degree of improvement."-Ecycloloi)edia Americana.
"In regard to intellectual endowments, it is probably inferior tothe beaver,
the dog, the horse, or the elephant."-Edinburgh Encyclopcedia.
" In their mental powers, or intelligence, the apes in nowise approach the
dog, the elephant, the horse, although their natural facility of imitating
human action has obtained for them the credit of approaching nearly to
human comprehension."-New American Cycloptedia.
"The docility and apparent intelligence which are so strongly marked in
the Chimipanzee and Orang, and which have given rise to such exaggerated
ideas of their intellect, have been always observed in youthful animals....
...... Though there may be exceptions to the general rule, the stories told
Eccles. x, 11.
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