K"^V 1 . im 



Notes on the Dissection and Brain of the Chimpanzee " (iumbo '" 



( Troylodytes nlger) . 



By Thomas Dwight. 



Read May 15, 1895. 



" Gumbo" was a very fine male chimpanzee who at one time was kept in the Royal 

 zoological gardens at Lisbon. He was leased to a museum at Boston, where he died in 

 the autumn of 1894 of general tuberculosis. He had probably reached very nearly his 

 full size, though the last of his second teeth had not taken their permanent position, and 

 some of the epiphyses were distinct. Before his sickness he was remarkably muscular. 

 He is said to have been very intelligent, but was not trained to rival " Sally." His 

 temper was violent. I regret that I never saw him alive. Even after death he did not 

 come into my hands until after the autopsy. This was performed more than twenty-four 

 hours after death. The progress of putrefaction combined with the effects of tubercu- 

 losis had made the condition of the thoracic and abdominal cavities truly frightful. The 

 viscera and skin were practically worthless. The brain, happily, was perfectly healthy. 

 The body was then sent t(j the Harvard medical school and dismembered as soon as 

 possible. There was a great deal of very black hair about the face. Indeed, the hair 

 was black, or nearly so, everywhere. There were bare spots, almost callosities, over the 

 tuberosities of the ischia. 



The height, measured after the removal of the brain, from vertex to heel, the leg 

 being straightened as much as possible, was about 131 cm. This must be regarded as 

 only approximate. 



The length of the hand from the fold at the wrist to the end of the middle finger 

 was 24.4 cm. on the right. The left was 1 mm. longer. The length of the foot to 

 the end of the third toe was 24.7 cm. on the right, and 2 mm. less on the left. The 

 great toe resembled strikingly a human thumb, and the lines on the sole of the foot were 

 much more like those of the human hand than were those of " Sally " as shown in Mr. 

 Beddard's^ figures. The lines of the hands and feet are well shown in the reproductions 

 of the photographs (pi. 7). 



The ear is admittedly very variable in the chimpanzee. Those of " Gumbo," like 

 those of the T. auhryi' and of "Mr. Crowley," the New York chimpanzee, are more 



'Trans, zool. ,i<oc, Londun, vol. 10. 180:1. 'Gratiolet ami Ali.x, Nouv. arcli. luas d'liist. u.at. Paris, 



tome -1. 1860. 



