108 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



Not Strictly Contagions. 



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-Entcritis. — 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, 



