108 NEW. YORK, ZOOLOGICAL, SOCIETY: 
INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 
Not Strictly Contagious. 
Pneumonia.—Ten deaths have occurred from this disease dur- 
ing the past year as compared with 33 cases last year. Three of 
these cases have followed infection with bronchial filaria. In 
other instances the prevailing factors seem to have been those 
discussed in last year’s report under the heading of “Pathological 
Effects of Captivity on Wild Animals.” Deaths from pneumonia 
in these cases are so frequent that it really seems as if it may be 
necessary to attempt to devise some method by means of which 
the animals may be forced to take more exercise, a matter which 
Mr. Hornaday has discussed several times with me, and which I 
find has been noted by Bostock in his recent book on the training 
of wild animals. 
Post-Partum Sepsis.—There is a widely prevalent idea in the 
public mind, and to a certain extent among medical men, that 
post-partum sepsis is almost unknown except in the human, and 
that it is rare among the uncivilized peoples, the latter being used 
not infrequently as an argument for the so-called ‘“Nature Life” 
as opposed to the methods of modern asepsis and antisepsis. It 
is, therefore, most interesting to note that during the past year 
two fatal cases of post-partum sepsis have occurred, one in an 
East African baboon and one in an Indian leopard, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that the cat family are usually resistant to the ordi- 
nary infections. In these two animals the disease appears to have 
followed the general course usually present in the human, infec- 
tion having taken place through the vagina and extending up 
through the uterus and into the tubes, setting up peritonitis by ex- 
tension, with finally a general sepsis. No bacteriological studies 
were made on the cases, but both were apparently induced by 
dystocia, and it seems necessary that more care be exercised in the 
selection of animals for propagation, and that special methods for 
their feeding and exercise be devised. This is already under con- 
sideration. 
NON-INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 
Gastro-Enteritis—Deaths from gastro-enteritis have not been 
so frequent during the past year as they were formerly, but 12 
cases dying from this disorder as compared with 43 cases last 
year. Seven of these deaths were among the mountain sheep, and, 
