140 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



pointed object capable of passing through the reticulum or sec- 

 ond stomach and the diaphragm in the median planes would be 

 directed toward and would enter the pericardial cavity. 



The causes leading to foreign-body pericarditis are strikingly 

 connected with the manner in which bovines feed. They swallow 

 their food quite rapidly, submitting it later on to a second mastica- 

 tion in the course of rumination. This method of feeding results 

 in the animal bolting its food almost without mastication; hence 

 the possibility of swallowing foreign bodies. 



These indigestible bodies pass with the food into the rumen or 

 first stomach, and accumulate in the deepest portions of this re- 

 ceptacle. Owing to physiological contractions the lower wall of 

 the rumen rises to the level of the orifice of its communication 

 with the reticulum, and thus passes much of the material accu- 

 mulated within to this organ. 



On account of the peculiar arrangement of the mucous mem- 

 brane of the reticulum, which is divided into polyhedral cells by 

 folds studded with papillse and serrated at their edges, it ofifers 

 a fine field for the lodgment of pointed substances, particularly 

 pins, nails, and pieces of wire. The sharpness of one extremity 

 of the foreign body insures its passing readily through the tissues,, 

 and as the point is the part that offers least resistance it continues 

 gradually to penetrate. 



Sometimes the foreign body becomes implanted in the lower 

 wall of the reticulum, and may be expelled directly through the 

 medium of an abscess, thus resulting in a permanent gastric 

 fistula. More often, however, the foreign substance penetrates the 

 anterior wall of the reticulum and gradually works its way toward 

 the diaphragm, impelled by the movements of the reticulum and 

 other digestive compartments. It perforates the muscle and passes 

 into the thoracic cavity, entering either the pericardium or the 

 pleural sacs. Death is the inevitable termination, and occurs as a 

 consequence of cardiac and respiratory syncope. 



Tuberculosis. — When a generally received opinion is made the 

 subject of a careful investigation it not infrequently proves to be 

 erroneous. This is particularly true of tuberculosis among mon- 

 keys. The general public holds the belief — and, strange to say, 

 it is sometimes indorsed by ill-informed members of the medical 

 profession — that the majority of all monkeys in zoological collec- 

 tions die from tuberculosis. After careful investigation of the 

 diseases of wild animals in captivity, we fail to find any reason- 

 able excuse for so widely spread an error. There has been too 

 much theory and too little observation and record of facts in 



