12 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



All monkeys are very delicate animals. They are not gluttonous ; 

 and haying so much exercise, they are rarely afflicted with diseases of 

 the bowels. But they have weak lungs, and the reason why so many 

 of the most interesting among them die when brought to Europe is the 

 too sudden change of aii', diet, and water. There is no more intelligent 

 monkey than the chimpanzee, a truly wonderful animal. While in 

 Berlin I dined at the Zoological Gardens by the side of a pet chim- 

 panzee. He partook of every dish like a human being, put sugar into 

 his teacup, stirred it with the spoon, and drank the beverage with evi- 

 dent relish. But his eyes looked supernaturally bright. I felt his 

 pulse. It was 125. " He will not live long," 1 said to his keeper, 



" Why not ? " he asked with a sorrowful mien. 



" He is consumptive," I replied. 



"Indeed ! He often coughs." 



The chimpanzee died a month later. His left lung was entirely 

 gone. 



Carnivorous animals suffer from digestive disorders only when fed 

 upon poor meat. I dissected three hyenas : two in Paris, one in Lon- 

 don. Their bowels presented an entirely healthy appearance, and so 

 did their stomachs. But the reverse was the case of an old Abyssin- 

 ian hyena belonging to a Greek menagerie-keeper, who had caught 

 the animal himself in Africa. He managed to keep it alive for two 

 years, but told me : " The beast always vomited, and often lay on the 

 ground, moaning piteously. What was the cause ? " I dissected the 

 hyena. The stomach was in a terrible condition. It was dotted with 

 the scars of boils. 



Dogs are gluttons. Wild dogs are worse. We have at the Jardin 

 one of these able to devour meat enough to gorge a tiger or a lion ; 

 but the animal has to pay dearly for its voracity ; it is always suffer- 

 ing from aggravated constipation, and will not live long. 



Foxes are shrewd about everything, and so they are about their 

 food. What hunter has ever found a fox that died from disease ? 

 Zoologists admire the dissected body of a fox because there is never 

 anything unhealthy to be found in its organs. Hence, foxes are long- 

 lived. 



Six months ago we received at the Jardin four buffaloes from the 

 North American Plains. Two of them died three days after their 

 arrival. They were found to be suffering from a multiplicity of dis- 

 eases—dyspepsia, imperfect action of the kidneys, and fatty degenera- 

 tion of the heart. The other two have been ailing ever since, and yet 

 the young buffalo born at the Zoological Gardens of Cologne is the 

 embodiment of health. 



The elephant is one of the most temperate and abstemious of ani- 

 mals. He eats for his size so little food that it is a wonder how he is 

 able to exist upon it. True, he dies in captivity before his time, but 

 not from physical causes. There is no doiibt that he is one of the 



