Evidence as to Mans Place In Nature | Page 7

its being a veritable
'Troglodytes niger'*, though still very young. Although fully
appreciating the resemblances between his Pygmie and Man, Tyson by
no means overlooked the differences between the two, and he
concludes his memoir by summing up first, the points in which "the
Ourang-outang or Pygmie more resembled a Man than Apes and
Monkeys do," under forty-seven distinct heads; and then giving, in
thirty-four similar brief paragraphs, the respects in which "the
Ourang-outang or Pygmie differ'd from a Man and resembled more the
Ape and Monkey kind."
[footnote] * I am indebted to Dr. Wright, of Cheltenham, whose
paleontological labours are so well known, for bringing this interesting
relic to my knowledge. Tyson's granddaughter, it appears, married Dr.

Allardyce, a physician of repute in Cheltenham, and brought, as part of
her dowry, the skeleton of the 'Pygmie.' Dr. Allardyce presented it to
the Cheltenham Museum, and, through the good offices of my friend
Dr. Wright, the authorities of the Museum have permitted me to borrow,
what is, perhaps its most remarkable ornament.
After a careful survey of the literature of the subject extant in his time,
our author arrives at the conclusion that his "Pygmie" is identical
neither with the Orangs of Tulpius and Bontius, nor with the Quoias
Morrou of Dapper (or rather of Tulpius), the Barris of d'Arcos, nor with
the Pongo of Battell; but that it is a species of ape probably identical
with the Pygmies of the Ancients, and, says Tyson, though it "does so
much resemble a 'Man' in many of its parts, more than any of the ape
kind, or any other 'animal' in the world, that I know of: yet by no means
do I look upon it as the product of a 'mixt' generation--'tis a
'Brute-Animal sui generis', and a particular 'species of Ape'."
The name of "Chimpanzee," by which one of the African Apes is now
so well known, appears to have come into use in the first half of the
eighteenth century, but the only important addition made, in that period,
to our acquaintance with the man-like apes of Africa is contained in 'A
New Voyage to Guinea', by William Smith, which bears the date 1744.
In describing the animals of Sierra Leone, p. 51, this writer says:--
"I shall next describe a strange sort of animal, called by the white men
in this country Mandrill*, but why it is so called I know not, nor did I
ever hear the name before, neither can those who call them so tell,
except it be for their near resemblance of a human creature, though
nothing at all like an Ape. Their bodies, when full grown, are as big in
circumference as a middle-sized man's--their legs much shorter, and
their feet larger; their arms and hands in proportion. The head is
monstrously big, and the face broad and flat, without any other hair but
the eyebrows; the nose very small, the mouth wide, and the lips thin.
The face, which is covered by a white skin, is monstrously ugly, being
all over wrinkled as with old age; the teeth broad and yellow; the hands
have no more hair than the face, but the same white skin, though all the
rest of the body is covered with long black hair, like a bear. They never

go upon all fours, like apes; but cry, when vexed or teased, just like
children...."
[footnote] *"Mandrill" seems to signify a "man-like ape," the word
"Drill" or "Dril" having been anciently employed in England to denote
an Ape or Baboon. Thus in the fifth edition of Blount's "Glossographia,
or a Dictionary interpreting the hard words of whatsoever language
now used in our refined English tongue...very useful for all such as
desire to understand what they read," published in 1681, I find, "Dril--a
stone-cutter's tool wherewith he bores little holes in marble, etc. Also a
large overgrown Ape and Baboon, so called." "Drill" is used in the
same sense in Charleton's "Onomasticon Zoicon," 1668. The singular
etymology of the word given by Buffon seems hardly a probable one.
FIG. 5.--Facsimile of William Smith's figure of the "Mandrill," 1744.
"When I was at Sherbro, one Mr. Cummerbus, whom I shall have
occasion hereafter to mention, made me a present of one of these
strange animals, which are called by the natives Boggoe: it was a
she-cub, of six months' age, but even then larger than a Baboon. I gave
it in charge to one of the slaves, who knew how to feed and nurse it,
being a very tender sort of animal; but whenever I went off the deck the
sailors began to teaze it--some loved to see its tears and hear it cry;
others hated its snotty nose; one who hurt it, being checked by the
negro that took care