On The Record

From last month’s featured writer, J. A. MacDonald offers another fitting missive from his self-published journal, "On the Record". One this occasion MacDonald’s gives a humorous account of the animal economy of the humble ape known as man.

The Loquacious Ape

 "Man is a chattering animal. Usuall,y there is little of value in his pronouncements but we readily concede his facility of utterance. Other members of the animal kingdom are able to see, hear, taste, and smell far better than man can, but he can out-talk them all. The gift of gab he possesses today was not always a human attribute. Man was at one time much like other animals and answered all searching questions with a grunt, groan, grimace, or gesture.
Our simian ancestors were a sociable lot. With all his animosity to foreigner and outsider, as well as his political dissensions within the local orbit, there is probably no other animal as social as man. Looking back along the lengthy line of evolution it would be difficult to reach a point where our founding fathers were social exclusionists. They were always animals that enjoyed company...

. . . Looking over the position of the other animals in retrospect to language, we can readily that it had its origin and development in labor. It was a definite result of wielding tools to produce the needs of life. None of our fellow animals is expert in the use of articulate speech. None of them can argue or orate with ease and readiness we find in man. None of them has discovered the difference between the noun and the verb, or even the vowels and consonants. They communicate with each other in the old miocenic manner. . . . .

...The wild dog – the Australian dingo – is much like other animals of the frontier. He has no inclination to be on friendly terms with the people he happens to meet. But the tame dog, after centuries of training, has his ear attuned to his master’s voice and understands even better that some humans what the talking he hears is all about. When his owner speaks to him in a pleasant voice he returns the compliment with wagging his tail and osculatory gestures. When the boss berates him he sneaks off with his tail between his legs. The labor that induced speech and influenced the brain of the ape to become more and more like that of the man can be seen in its leavening function among the not so aptly termed – lower animals."

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Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC.