Young chimpanzees chuckle and smile when one they love returns to them after an absence of some little time. Their eyes sparkle and grow bright, while very evident and easily recognized smiles flit over their countenances.[46]
Young orang-utans likewise chuckle and grin when tickled, and, as Wallace observes, give expression to unmistakable smiles. "Dr. Duchenne—and I cannot quote a better authority—informs me that he kept a tame monkey in his house for a year; and when he gave it, during meal-times, some choice delicacy, he observed that the corners of its mouth were slightly raised; thus an expression of satisfaction, partaking of the nature of an incipient smile, and resembling that often seen on the face of man, could be plainly perceived in this animal."[47]
A dog belonging to Mr. Henry Barklay, of Paducah, Kentucky, not only smiles when pleased, but also gives utterance to an unmistakable chuckle. When I first saw and heard this manifestation of delight, I thought that the animal had been taught the accomplishment; his master assured me, however, that such was not the case, that both the smile and the chuckle were natural and inborn traits of the dog.
I think it hardly necessary to give more data on this point; suffice it to say that it is a fact beyond dispute that certain monkeys and dogs are "laughing animals," and that man is not the only animal that expresses emotion through the agency of the smile and laughter!
On one occasion during very hot weather, one of the combs in my bee-house became loosened at the top through melting of the wax. The weight on the comb dragged it down, and suddenly it broke from its supports and sagged over against a neighboring comb. It was perfectly apparent to me that if something were not done at once, the comb would continue to sag until it broke away from all its connections, and would then be precipitated to the floor of the hive. The bees likewise recognized this impending calamity, and clearly showed that they did by the noise and tumult which arose among them as soon as they discovered the precarious situation of the endangered comb.[48]
The loud buzzing which they immediately set up clearly indicated their dismay and consternation. It seemed to me very much like the noisy vociferation of conflicting counsels, which would undoubtedly arise among the people in some orderly town were they suddenly threatened by some unforeseen and unheard-of catastrophe.
The tumult among the bees continued for four or five minutes, when, suddenly, order was evolved out of chaos, and they set to work to prevent the fall of the comb, showing almost, if not altogether, as much intelligence as human beings would evince under like circumstances.
They shored up the endangered comb by building a thick pillar of wax between it and a neighboring comb, thus effectually fixing it so that it could sag no further. When this had been done, they re-affixed the top of the comb to the ceiling of the hive by a broad, thick bar of wax; the pillar used in propping up the comb was afterwards removed and the wax used elsewhere.
In this instance, these little creatures at first clearly evinced the emotions of fear, dismay, consternation, and grief; afterwards, they just as clearly showed fortitude and joy; for, after the supporting pillar had been built, I saw the queen, surrounded by a crowd of courtier-bees, on the comb near it, and am fully convinced that she had been brought out by her rejoicing subjects to view the results of their brave struggle against an utterly unforeseen but now happily averted calamity.
On another occasion I witnessed the terrible grief of a community of bees at the death of their queen, which was seized with illness (a sudden and overwhelming diarrhœa, to which bees, at times, are very subject) while making a progression through her domains, and fell to the floor of the hive and died before she could be conveyed back to the royal cell. I was, therefore, able to see the conduct of the bees during her illness and after her death.