The evening world. Newspaper, May 26, 1922, Page 32

' | ' ; i { Foetal Scientists Real Link W Discover in Gorilla’s Foot A “Walking’’ Muscle Like Man’s; Never Before Found in Any Anthropoid Ape. Had Brain Development of Two-Year-Old Child, Greatest Ever Recorded Among. Primates; Seemed to Have Human Understanding. By Roger Batchelder. OHN DANIEL—Master Gorilla. That was the John whom we knew about a year ago. He came to us with all the pomp and heraldry of a King, was said to be “the greatest, kindest, smartest go- rilla’’ and was endowed with count~- less other superiatives and virtues. But New Yorkers, who have long been swayed hither and yon and thrilled by the adjectival announce- ments of the “Greatest. Most Mag- nificent, Most Glorious and Wonder- ful Circus on Harth,’’ smiled with Just the least suspicion when they, Jearnéd that John Daniel had come here to join the circus. They greeted him with more ceremony than is ac- corded the ordinary gorilla visitor— that is true. They grew to appre- ciate his many, virtues and recognize them, however. And when he died, New York mourned more sincerely, than it had ever before mourned for a.gorilla—or for very many, people, in fact. Tt seems sacrilege now, however, to oall John Daniel just a gorilla. For the late John Daniel is the subject of strict examination and research by medical men, anthropologists and other scientists. The scientific world wnits with interest for the results of the tests which have been made and afé to be made. It has already been announced that John Daniel had one physical feature of man which has never before been recorded in a mem- ber of the anthropoid family; more- over, he is reported to have been en- dowed with several other human physical qualities not yet announced by those who have been conducting the tests and examinations, but which nay link the anthropold family with the human race and prove several facts which may, advance the Dar- winian theory. At the recent meeting of the Amer- jean Society of Mammalogists, which comprises many notel specialists in the world of anthropology and sci- ence, John Daniel was an important topic. He was, in fact, the ultimate topic, for he came into great promi- nehce in the discussion of theories of evolution. “Please do not say that man is descended from monkeys,” requested Dr, W. K. Gregory of the American Museum of Natural History and a member of the society, when I asked him to tell of John Danie! and all the evolution theories which revolve about him, Dr. Gregory, at the meeting of mammalogiets, read a paper on “How near ie the relation of man to the gorilla and ohim- panzee stock?” John Daniel came later, but to understand John's im- portance to these ectentific men, one must go much further back. “Linnaeus,” said Dr. Gregory, when I asked him to start at the beginning and end with John, “placed all the legions of animals and plants in a natural system of classification, He formed one group of primates, eo-called, and put man at their head. Next came the an- thropoid apes, such as John Daniel, the monkeys and the lemurs, His fundamental theory was that one must put an animal in the right Pigeon hole before one can study its natural history, “Darwin went one step further. He accepted Linnacus's classifica- tion, but put man in one grand di- vision, which he called the Old World Primates and which included also the anthropoild a) and narrow nosed monkeys. But he was very explicit on this point of his evolu- tion theory—neither men, apes nor monkeys were the same as the original stock from which they originally sprang. “To-day, if we classify animals ac- cording to their physical structure, we find the greatest similarity be- tween the anthropoid ape and man. The teeth, for tnstance, of the oldest man of whom we have knowledge show a fundamental similarity to those of apes. As ages went on, this similarity became less marked, but it is even now pronounced. The nose, ears, brains and feet of the gorilla are more nearly human than the’ organs of any other animal. “These organs are all specialized for the modes of fife to which they, have been accustomed, and the old ancestral forms common to both man and ape. have been lost in greater or less degree. “To-day, man is distinguished by an enormous brain, small jaws, up- right posture, perfection of vocal function, caused partly by the special formation of the tongue. The differ- ence in food has something to do with it, for man is omnivorous, while the ape eats mainly fruit, All these physical qualities have been brought about in adaptation to successive changes tn habit and mode of Nving. While the apes havo branohed off in their several directions, man has gone in another." Dr. Grogory then explained a few of the reasons why John Daniel has become famous tn the world of science. John, it seems, had a certain muscle in the foot called by anatomists, the “peroneus tertius,"" which has hith- erto been recorded only in human be- Ings. The co-discoverers of this unique muscle were Prof. George 8. Huntington of the College of Physt- clans and Surgeons of Columbia, and Dr. D. J. Morton, an orthopaedist. ‘The foot of the gorilla 1s ordinartly more like the human foot than that of any other unimal because the go- rila uses it more on the ground. That of John Dantal, with its muscle which was supposedly @ part of the human body only, presumably con- tributed to his special cleverness in walking. This, according to the scientists, {s @ decided home run for John Apes as a whole have a certain borie which attaches the pelvis to the spinal column and which ts one ver- terbra nearer the head than in man This, according to theory, is caused Dy an attempt to overcome the hand- {cap of an imperfect adaptation to the upright pose which is assumed. The bone in question, of course, was Iike- wise pronounced in John Daniel. Dr. Tinley, also of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, showed at the conference illustrations of the brains of a series of animals from fish to man. That of the gorilla, he de- clared, is nearest to the human type. And John Daniel again made the high score. His brain, despite the fact that he was not yet a grown-up gorilla when he died, came nearer to comparison with that of a two-year- old child then the brain of the chim- panzee or orang, both of which stand high in the primate order. “Dr. Hornaday of the Bronx Zoo- logical Park,” continued Dr. Gregory, VENING “JOHN DANIEL” As He Now Appears Mounted in the Museum of Natural History WORLD, FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1922. ae “John” Had the Brain Development of a Two-Year-Old Child, Compar- able to That of His Little Playmate in the Above Photograph. “considered John Danlel a highly ex- “I ceptional gorilla.” Dr Most gorillas, according to Dr Hornaday, are morose and listiess in captivity, The great majority of the due young have died. John Daniel was a perfect member of the animal house- hold. His behaviour lous," was marvel- was a born nate really couldn't say," remarked Gregory, ‘whether genius or whether mental devel to good health and conditions,” John Daniel's brain ts now under the closest scrutiny, vided into many parts, John Daniel his re- pement ther fortu- It has been di- and will be \aea, and stud- subdivided and subdiv to infinity. fed and studied, almost Finally we shall hear the full report development and authoritatively of John's brain possibly, will why he seemed to understand every- thing that went on about him, John, as those who saw him knew him, ig mow mounted in the Natural a know ith Manfound How a Gorilla’s Skele- ton Compares With That of a Man—Note Pelvis. Difference in Bony De- velopment at Neck and Striking The Muscle Scientists Found in John Daniel’s Foot and Which Was Supposed to Exist Only in Man—White Arrows Show Its Location, History object of Museum proper generations and, if he is the he will to come, not only who will have the charts which will prove that he was the su- per-gorilla, but of the children randchildren of this generation, who reverence awe of scle ntists and now a remarkable gorilla when they, Miss writing for the Zoological Society Bulletin, has already told the story of John Daniel's earthly life. He was brought to England surreptitiously from the French gabon with a consignment of monkeys with which the Government wished to experiment. ‘*Wild ant- mals'’ were forbidden entrance at the time. Major Rupert Penny, Miss Cun- ningham’s nephew, brought him home when John was under Alyse Cunningham, one evening three years of age. Miss Cunningh confessed that she never liked “anything in the shape of a monkey," but John im- mediately showed several little tricks which he had learned himself, and oon became a popular member of the household. Major Penny himself, a student of primate life, wanted to determine the extent of mentality which could be developed. Not to be outdone by the humans, John soon caught influenza, ‘from the public." When he recovered, he refused to be left alone at night be- cause he “wanted compa He shrieked continually, until Miss Cun- ningham assuaged his loneliness and fear by bringing his cage to the room adjoining Major Penny's bed. ‘Then John was happy. He tired of foods very quickly, but® drank a quart of milk daily, and finally growing accustomed to over three quarts. He liked to choose his own food, so he was offered fruits of various kinds, and allowed to ma his choice, More than anything else, Ke he preferred roses—to eat John was very friendly, He liked visitors. When ‘he thought he was being neglected Me ran to the window and clapped his hands to attract at- tention. And to show his sportive in- stinct he sometimes went swiftly by, linJohn Daniel”? From “The Outline of Sctence. Puti Walking Postures of a Gorilla’s and a Man's Leg and Foot. those people who seemed afraid of him and slapped them on the leg with his foot, grinning the while—according to his former mistress. His table man- ners became good; he would never snatch anything from the plate. When he wanted water he went to the tap and turned on the faucet. John was never taught any tricks But he knew how to unlock and open a window, and when people went too close to a window he pushed them away for fear that they might fall out. He knew that 8 o'clock meant bedtime for him and at that hour would stand on the rail of ,his bed and bounce on the springs like a child, some times turning head over heels, With the unde anding t John was to go to a private park in Florida, according to Miss Cunningham, he was sent to America. He was taken away by a stranger and later became very ill. His mistress was notified by cable that John Daniel was dying of homesickness and she started for America, But she arrived too late, for John died, in the tower of Madison Square Garden, in the last week of April, 1921 John Daniel, we're all us. For you were a mi One gorilla. More power to that muscle in your foot which brought you closer to us, scientifically. But we wish you could have stayed longer with us, ana, perhaps, come a lot closer, scientifle cally and otherwise, you left ¢