The English chimneypieces of the early 17th century, when the purer Italian style was introduced by Inigo Jones, were extremely simple in design, sometimes consisting only of the ordinary mantelpiece, with classic architraves and shelf, the upper part of the chimney breast being panelled like the rest of the room. In the latter part of the century the classic architrave was abandoned in favour of a much bolder and more effective moulding, as in the chimneypieces at Hampton Court, and the shelf was omitted.
In the 18th century the architects returned to the Inigo Jones classic type, but influenced by the French work of Louis XIV. and XV. Figure sculpture, generally represented by graceful figures on each side, which assisted to carry the shelf, was introduced, and the overmantel developed into an elaborate frame for the family portrait over the chimneypiece. Towards the close of the 18th century the designs of the brothers Adam superseded all others, and a century later they came again into fashion. The Adam mantels are in wood enriched with ornament, cast in moulds, sometimes copied from the carved wood decoration of old times. (R. P. S.)
CHIMPANZEE (_Chimpanzi_), the vernacular name of the highest species of the man-like apes, forming the typical representatives of the genus _Anthropopithecus_. Chimpanzees, of which there appear to be at least two species, range through the tropical forest-zone of Africa from the west coast to Uganda. The typical _A. troglodytes_ has been long known to European science, Dr Tyson, a celebrated surgeon and anatomist of his time, having dissected a young individual, and described it, as a pigmy or _Homo sylvestris_, in a book published in 1699. Of this baby chimpanzee the skeleton may be seen in the Natural History branch of the British Museum alongside the volume in which it is described. It was not, however, till 1788 that the chimpanzee received what is now recognized as a scientific name, having been christened in that year _Simia troglodytes_ by the naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin. In his classification it was included in the same genus as the orang-utan; and it has recently been suggested that the name _Simia_ pertains of right to the chimpanzee rather than to the orang-utan. Between the typical West African chimpanzee and the gorilla (q.v.) there is no difficulty in drawing a distinction; the difficulty comes in when we have to deal with the aberrant races, or species, of chimpanzee, some of which are so gorilla-like that it is by no means easy to determine to which group they really pertain. In height the adult male chimpanzee of the typical form does not exceed 5 ft., and the colour of the hair is a full black, while the skin, especially that of the face, is light-coloured; the ears are remarkably large and prominent, and the hands reach only a short distance below the knees. The head is rounded and short, without prominent beetling ridges above the eyes, or a strong crest along the middle line of the back of the skull; and the tusks of the old males are of no very great length and prominence. Moreover, there is no very marked difference in the size of the two sexes. Gentleness and docility are specially characteristic of the species, even when full-grown; while in the native state its habits are thoroughly arboreal.