DEATH OF THE GORILLA. 141 



both days inclusive, twenty of these ^a.^'-lectures were 

 delivered, making, with those at the Polytechnic, twenty- 

 nine in the nine working days. 



Of course this involved a good deal of hurried 

 travelling backwards and forwards, from the Crystal 

 Palace to the Polytechnic, and from the Polytechnic to 

 the Crystal Palace ; but the difficulties were overcome, 

 and all the lectures were duly delivered. The health 

 of the poor little gorilla, however, fell off very rapidly. 

 With the seeds of pulmonary disease already working 

 within it when it reached England, it received its final 

 death-blow before it had been in the Palace a week, 

 owing principally to the negligence of its keeper, who was 

 an ignorant Dutchman, with no experience of the larger 

 apes ; for a sudden shower of cold rain, falling upon 

 the heated glass of the Palace, and then rapidly evapor- 

 ating, quickly lowered the temperature of the building 

 by no less than ten degrees. No precautions whatever 

 were taken to protect the gorilla, or to increase the 

 warmth of its cage, and the animal sustained a severe 

 chill, which, settling upon its lungs, carried it oif upon 

 the 3rd of September. On the following day my 

 father assisted at a post-mortem examination of its body, 

 and I find in his diary the entry : 



Examined interior of gorilla. Such a chest and back. Right 

 lung all tubercles, left very bad. 



A second note bears date a few days later. 



Chimpanzee died a few hours after leaving Crystal Palace, and 

 an Orang-Outan (not exhibited) died shortly after arrival. But all 



