188 THE ZOOLOOIOAL SOCIETY. 



ho had visited the Zoo^ rather frequently of late, and noticed 

 that Jumbo's temper was not so good as it used to be. He 

 clearly recognised that the animal was a possible source of 

 danger, not only to the keepers, but to the public ; and stated 

 the case plainly : " If he were suddenly to get cross some day 

 when a number of children were present some accident might 

 happen. I venture to think the authorities have acted with 

 discretion in parting with him." 



Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier dealt with the subject in the Field of 

 February 25. With a fuller knowledge of the facts than any 

 other journalist possessed, he described the risk of keeping the 

 animal, concluding thus : 



The statements that have been made respecting the human emotions 

 manifested by the animal are mainly imaginary. The simple explanation 

 of his behaviour is that he became alarmed at the new conditions under 

 which he was placed, and consequently refused to move. 



Had Jumbo been so docile and obedient as to take his departure quietly, 

 but little would have been said on the subject. Old public favourite as he 

 was, the announcement of his sale, which was published in the daily papers 

 a month ago, and the paragraphs which subsequently appeared relative to 

 the preparation for shipment, may have elicited a few passing words of 

 regret, but no public protest was thought of.f 



No sooner, however, does the sensational writer t adorn the facts and 

 give to the subject a fictitious interest by endowing Jumbo with human 

 attributes than the kindly feelings of the public are aroused and angry 

 remonstrances evoked against his supposed oppressors. All honour to 



* This is an early instance of the use of this inelegant contraction without 

 inverted commas. In the Daili/ Telegraph of April 18, 1876, the following sentence 

 occurs : " Easter Monday is always a great day at the * Zoo,' as it is now the 

 fashion to call it." The form was, as everybody knows, adopted from a music-hall 

 song made popular by Vance in 1867. By a strange anachronism it occurs in the 

 " Life of Owen," whence it would seem as if what purport to be quotations from 

 Mrs. Owen's Diary are not given in the exact words of the diarist. " Zoo " has 

 also found its way into colloquial German. In the ** Tagebuch einer Verlorenen " 

 (Berlin, 1905, p. 230) one meets with this sentence: "Wir beschlossen, den 

 Abend zusammen im Zoo zue ssen." 



t There was no expression of disapproval of the sale on the part of any Fellow 

 at the monthly meeting of February 16. 



X It would not be difficult to dot the i's and cross the t's in this sentence. Mr. 

 Tegetmeier has not mentioned the " writer " by name— for the allusion is to a 

 person, not a class — nor will the author take the responsibility of doing so. The 

 only remark he permits himself is, that the sensation was not, as is generally 

 believed, created in the interests of Barnum, whose agents adroitly turned it to 

 profitable account. 



