sapiens, so self-styled, their very aspect is repulsive to us, and if we analyze our sentiments we will be compelled to admit that we have become prejudiced on account of the tacit comparison we make to ourselves. Apes range far below man, and man deems it opprobrious that they should be considered kin to him, and yet how human are they! We abhor them as a caricature of ourselves. They appear like an attempt at manhood which has turned out a conspicuous failure. If an ape did not remind us of a human figure, we would find in the expression of his face, his stature, his carriage, and general deportment, as much beauty as that which we admire in a St. Bernard or a full-blooded Arabian steed.

Let us try to divest ourselves of the odium of comparisons and consider the ape race with that natural interest which we cherish for all life, so as to be impartial in our judgment, and we shall find that the eye of the chimpanzee is remarkably soulful, that the manners of the orang-utan are astonishingly affectionate, and the devotion of the gorilla to his family is manly to a degree that compels respect.

*

Prof. H. Klatsch, one of the foremost anthropologists of Germany, speaks pretty authoritatively in the name of his colleagues when he says in a new, large and popular work, Weltall und Menschheit, that man can scarcely have developed from any of the anthropoid apes, but that both man and ape must have developed from one common ancestor now extinct. The three large groups of anthropoid apes, the gorilla, chimpanzee and orang-utan2 must be regarded as degenerates from a higher type, for they are most like man in their childhood and youth and develop their beast characters as age advances. They have lost their adaptability, and being unfit to survive any considerable change in climate or mode of life, seem to be destined by nature to die out.

Gorilla and chimpanzee are closely related to each other while the orang-utan forms a group by himself. The latter is very delicate in his health and so almost every district harbors a special species. He is found only in Borneo and some of the adjacent islands. We might call him a pessimist, for he has a melancholy temper and is generally in a contemplative mood. He prefers solitude to

Edited by Hans Kraemer. Published by Bong & Co., of Berlin, Leipsic, Vienna and Stuttgart. 5 vol. 4 to.

'The popular pronunciation utang, which has obviously originated by its rhyme with orang, is incorrect. Orang means "woods" and utan, "man" in the Dajak language.

Young orang-utan. Young chimpanzee. SKELETONS OF FIVE ANTHROPOIDS. (From Haeckel's Der Kampf um den Entwickelungsgedanken.) Adult gorilla. Adult man.

company and shows a disinclination to leave the wooded swamps of his native district. In captivity he is most human in his affections. It is a common experience with keepers, that the orang-utan if threatened by an admonishing finger, will come up like a rueful child and plead forgiveness in a plaintive voice. He will embrace the keeper as if to pacify him, and his whole demeanor seems to say, "Do not be angry; I will be good." It is difficult to keep him long in captivity, however, for he usually dies of consumption after a short time. His mouth is almost of a spherical shape, which makes

his face repulsive, without, however, succeeding in hiding the goodnatured character of his psychical disposition.

The orang-utan appears to us awkward in his movements, but he is not, for he walks along with great rapidity on the stoutest branches in the dense forests of his marshy home. He does not jump but swings himself from tree to tree with unexpected agility. He rarely descends to walk on the ground but remains true to his name, "a man of the forest-trees." Travelers (among them Wallace who has closely observed the habits of the orang-utan in Borneo) declare that he is fearless and peaceful. There are no animals