GORGONS 



2539 



GORILLA 



The Canal Zone was possibly the most un- 

 healthful and unsanitary spot in the two Amer- 

 icas where white men were forced to live, and 

 Gorgas' work of improvement had to begin 

 with fundamentals. Disease-breeding filth was 

 cleaned up, marshes were drained, houses were 

 screened against the infection-carrying mos- 

 quito, and within an incredibly short time 

 the Zone was transformed from a deadly sec- 

 tion into an area where men might live and 

 work without danger to their health. Gorgas 

 thus had a part in the construction of the 

 canal comparing favorably with that taken by 

 the great engineer, Goethals, for American 

 engineering ability would have failed to accom- 

 plish the vast undertaking just as surely as 

 had that of France, years before, except for 

 the work of Gorgas and his assistant physicians 

 and chemists. 



In 1914 Gorgas was called to South Africa 

 by the Chamber of Mines of Johannesburg, 

 to investigate sanitary conditions in the Wit- 

 watersrand mines. He is a permanent direc- 

 tor of the International Health Commission 

 of the Rockefeller Foundation (which see). In 

 1918, after four years of service as surgeon- 

 general, he retired. 



GORGONS, gawr'gonz, three frightful beings 

 of Greek mythology "whose glance was icy 

 death," turning to stone all who looked upon 

 them. The two older ones were immortal, but 

 Medusa, the one best known, was mortal and 

 met her death at the hands of Perseus. The 

 hair of the Gorgons was a mass of serpents, 

 their hands and teeth were of brass, and their 

 bodies were covered with scales which could 

 not be pierced. The name is from a Greek 

 word meaning grim, and is often used to sig- 

 nify anything very hideous. See MEDUSA. 



GORILLA, goril'a, the largest of the anthro- 

 poid, or manlike, apes. The male is usually 

 larger than a man, and stands fully six feet in 

 height when in an upright position. The go- 

 rilla is a native of the forests of equatorial 

 West Africa, chiefly in parts of the French 

 Congo. A recognized authority, Prof. R. L. 

 Garner, said, in 1916, that there were probably 

 not more than 2,000 of them remaining in the 

 world. Although the name is of ancient origin, 

 practically nothing was known of these apes 

 by white men until 1847, when Dr. Savage, a 

 missionary in Gabun, on the west coast of 

 Africa, sent two skulls to England. An Amer- 

 ican missionary had called the attention of 

 naturalists to this new and strange animal a 

 few months previously, but that there was 



such a beast was considered improbable. The 

 first absolutely authentic accounts of this ape 

 were furnished by Du Chaillu, in 1859, and 



MAN AND THE GORILLA 

 Comparison of skeletons. 



these established the fact that the gorilla did 

 not belong to the same species as the chim- 

 panzee, as had been previously supposed. 



The gorilla is a huge, ungainly animal, with 

 short legs and very long arms, the tips of the 

 fingers reaching well below the knees. It is 

 covered with a coat of coarse, matted, brown- 

 ish hair. The 

 strength of the 

 animal is in pro- 

 portion to its 

 size, and it could 

 with ease tear a 

 man limb from 

 limb. The long, THE GORILLA 



canine teeth and Hand and foot, 



lowering brows give an appearance of great 

 ferocity to the male, which is belied by its 

 somewhat timid habits. 



As a rule the gorilla walks on all fours, but 

 it occasionally rises upright and walks more 

 naturally in that position than any other of 

 the apes. By day, gorillas roam the forests 



