40 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 



The statistics of the Aleclical Department have now reached 

 that stage where rehable deductions may be made on a number of 

 problems connected with the care of wild animals in confinement. 



Aside from the medical treatment of diseased animals, much 

 work during the past year has been directed toward determin- 

 ing the efifect of close confinement on the various organs of the 

 body^ particularly the heart and blood-vessels, kidneys and liver : 

 also toward the purpose of learning to what extent degenerative 

 changes in these organs contribute to the lowering of the resist- 

 ance of the body forces in various diseases. 



Xo animals of great value have been lost during the past year, 

 and the death-rate has been held down to what appears to be its 

 normal limit. Gastro-enteritis among the hoofed animals, and 

 tuberculosis and "cage paralysis" among the primates, which have 

 occupied so much of the attention of this department in the past, 

 are now, we are happy to say, no longer important factors in the 

 death-rate. 



A great deal of interest is now being taken in comparative 

 pathology, and much valuable material from this department has 

 been utilized by various pathological laboratories, among them. 

 The Rockefeller Institute, Health Department of Xew York City. 

 Boston University School of Medicine, Carnegie Laboratory, 

 and others. 



Our veterinarian was delegated by this Society to attend the 

 International Congress on Tuberculosis, held at \\'ashington, 

 D. C, during September, and besides contributing a paper on 

 "Tuberculosis in \\\\d Animals" to this Congress, he was bene- 

 fited by observing the very latest methods of dealing with this 

 universal problem. 



BRONX PARKWAY COMMISSION. 



The Bronx Parkway Commission has, as yet, been unable to 

 obtain from the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, any 

 money to prepare the necessary plans and surveys, which must be 

 completed before any work can be commenced on the Parkway. 

 The Comptroller of the City of Xew York, to whom the applica- 

 tion of the Commission was referred, made a favorable report 

 strongly endorsing the plans of the Commission, but the other 

 members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment have 

 withheld their consent, on the plea of financial stringency. The 

 protection of the river and the lands along the river valley is 

 absolutelv essential to the communities on the banks of the 



