Published in The Lake County Independent, Libertyville, Illinois on 10/09/1903.
    Henri Choupin, a French naturalist, draws attention to the fact that animals as a rule are wonderfully neat and far excel human beings in this respect. It has taken men, he says, several centuries to learn the virtues of neatness and cleanliness, whereas animals have apparently always possessed them. At any rate, they were certainly the first to use soap, sponges and toothbrushes.
    “From time immemorial,” he continues, “animals have cleansed themselves, using their tongues as brushes, their saliva as soap, their tails as towels and dusters and their claws as combs. Moreover, many of them take a cold bath whenever they have an opportunity; indeed, the apes go as far as to boycott those among them who do not take proper care of their bodies. Another singular fact about the apes is that those among them who have handsome beards never plunge them recklessly into a river or pond, but delicately sprinkle them with water. Buffon had a chimpanzee who always rinsed his mouth before drinking, and I have heard of a female orang-outang who was adept in the use of a toothpick. A fly after it is decapitated generally spends some seconds in brushing its neck and shoulders with its legs, but even the most zealous advocate of cleanliness will hardly claim that its object in doing so is that it may present a suitable post-mortem appearance.
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