Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/1424
Scientific namePan troglodytes
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
Object nameHead, Organs of Touch, Mounted wet bone and tissue
DescriptionThe head of a chimpanzee, prepared to show the mobile and sensitive lips which are used as efficient organs of touch.
This specimen was donated to Hunter by Adam Afzelius, a Swedish pupil of Linnaeus who visited Sierra Leone in 1792.
Production date 1792 - 1793
Preparator
Collector/excavator
Acquisition source
Related objectsRCSHC/1421
Physical Location
LocationOn display in the Hunterian Museum, Room 6: Leicester Square
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of bone and tissue mounted in a circular glass jar with glass lid.
Materialglass (material)
Troglodytes niger
Dimensions
whole height: 228 mm
whole diameter: 167 mm
whole weight: 5000 g
whole diameter: 167 mm
whole weight: 5000 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript1424: The head of a Chimpanzee (Anthropopithecus troglodytes). The lips, by reason of their great sensitiveness and mobility, serve as efficient organs of touch. Hunter called the animal 'Ouran Outang', a name applied in his lifetime both to the Orang utan of Borneo and the Chimpanzee of Africa. He observes that: 'The animal was a young one: its mother was shot. Mr Afzelius, who brought it home, said there were many, and which were near five feet high. She fell, when shot, from a tree; and in the fall still held the young one to her, which also brought it down, and in the fall it broke its arm.' Dr Adam Afzelius, a Swede, born in 1750, was a pupil of Linnaeus and he visited Sierra Leone in 1792. He was appointed Secretary to the Swedish Embassy in London in 1796 and in 1812 was made Professor of Materia Medica at Uppsala.
