Zoological Society. 289 



the male of the pair munificently presented to the Zoological Society 

 by His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, at the instance of 

 our distinguished scientific countryman Sir Roderick Impey Mur- 

 chison, G.C.SS. The animal had refused its food ; it was prostrated 

 by impeded and frequent respiration and a general oppressive feverish 

 state, and died about a week after the first attack. 



The morbid appearances, on dissection, were simple and conclu- 

 sive. The whole right lung had been the seat of active inflammation 

 and congestion ; most of the air-cells were filled with a bloody serum, 

 which was infiltrated throughout the connecting tissue. A mass of 

 coagulable lymph had been exuded from the whole exterior surface 

 of the organ, cementing its lobes to each other and to the surround- 

 ing parts, especially the pericardium. The mucous lining of the 

 bronchial tubes was of a deep livid red colour, and the same evidence 

 of inflammation extended throughout the trachea, and a little way 

 down the bronchi of the sound lung. Both the liver and spleen broke 

 down more easily under pressure than in the healthy common Ox ; 

 the texture of the kidney also was softer, and of a more fuscous 

 colour. The vessels of the pia mater were unusually gorged ; but 

 these were probably the secondary consequences of the influence 

 upon the circulation, and the quality of the blood induced by the 

 primary and active disorganization of the respiratory system. The 

 exciting cause of the disease I take to be the influence of the raw 

 cold and heavy fogs, consequent on the undrained extent of clay- 

 ground in which the menagerie of the Society is placed, and by which 

 it is extensively surrounded. The effects of an atmosphere so loaded 

 on the mucous tract of the respiratory organs to which it is applied, 

 has long been manifested in various species of the exotic animals 

 attempted to be preserved in the Zoological Gardens ; and the records 

 of medicine bear testimony to similar ill effects upon those human 

 inhabitants of the Regent's Park, whose habits and strength of con- 

 stitution do not enable them to control and overcome this pregnant 

 but happily remediable source of ill-health. 



The male Aurochs, at the period of its death, was two years and 

 five months old. The following was the state of its dentition : — 



5 — 5 

 2 3 — 3, cl — \,m p— r ^ 28 ; of which i 1 was permanent, i 2, i 3, 



and c were deciduous ; the molars were c? 2, 3 and 4, tw 1 and 2. 

 I here use the formula explained in my communication to the British 

 Association at Swansea, the notation used conveying in the space 

 of one line the following facts : viz. that the animal had shed and 

 replaced the median incisors of the lower jaw, but retained all the 

 rest of its deciduous dentition, having gained in addition the first and 

 second true molars of the permanent series. 



The tongue presented that deep leaden-bluish colour which Gili- 

 bert describes*, but is rough, as in the common Ox, and the inner sur- 

 face of the sides of the mouth is beset with the same kind of papillae. 

 The scrotum and testes were much smaller than in the young do- 



* Gilibert, Indagatores Naturae in Lituania, De Bisonte Lituanico, pp. 30 — 49; 

 Vilnae, 1781. 



