THE DISEASES OF WILD ANIMALS. ii 



there must have seemed no alteration ; and, remembering what instants 

 our own lives are, in a like comj^arison Avith the uncounted ages of the 

 sun's history, we may well reckon that our generation shall see no 

 change. 



In the little span which is allowed us, however, we will try to learn 

 something more of that source of light, life, and power of which we 

 are materially the creatures ; and, if we can leave a knowledge which 

 will not die with ourselves, feel that we have left also the record of a 

 something in us " which owes no homage to the sun." 



THE DISEASES OF WILD ANIMALS.* 



By Professor JEAN VILAIN. 



SOME naturalists have asserted that wild animals, when in a state 

 of liberty, are almost entirely free from disease, and that the lat- 

 ter afflicts them only when in captivity. I know that this is entirely 

 erroneous, and it can be proved that captive wild animals are more 

 exempt from ailments than those roaming at large. 



While First Surgeon of the Thirty-first Regiment of the Line, 

 then stationed at Alabera, in Algeria, I dissected the carcasses of about 

 fifty lions. The lungs of twenty of them were affected ; one half of 

 them were almost gone, showing that consumption is prevalent among 

 the lions of the Sahara and the Sahel. 



At the Jardin des Plantes, here in Paris, seven lions have died since 

 1869. All of them were born here. I dissected them, and found that 

 their lungs were entirely healthy. To what was the difference due ? 

 They received their food regularly, and were carefully protected from 

 inclement weather, while the lions in Africa had to go without food 

 for days, had to inhale the sandy air of the desert, and were frequently 

 drenched by terrible rains. 



There is at the Jardin des Plantes a wolf from the Ardennes, He 

 was caught when about six years old. He was suffering from cough, 

 and at one time we thought he was dying. He hawked and spat, and 

 was always sullen and morose. Often he abstained from food for sev- 

 eral days. At last we chloroformed him, and examined his throat. 

 He was found to be suffering from nasal catarrh in its most aggra- 

 vated form. Under proper medical treatment ■ he recovered rapidly. 

 Nine wolves born at the Jardin never showed the slightest sign of 

 disease. 



M, Jacquemart, the famous Indian hunter, often told me that he 

 had seen tigers spitting blood, which exhausted them so that they 

 could be approached within a few feet with impunity. 

 * Translated from the " Revue Zoologique." 



