ZOOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASE. 255 



male, and 9*2 C. in the female. Valenciennes, in some 

 similar observations conducted in 1841 in the Jardin des 

 Plantes, Paris, found the temperature of the incubating 

 python as high as 41'$ C. 



The observations are of interest, for it indicates the 

 occasional possibility of the python's body temperature 

 rising sufficiently high to favour the development of the 

 tubercle bacillus, and as the python's temperature 

 appears to be slightly raised above that of the surround- 

 ing media, it would come very close to the required 

 37 C. when the snake was exposed to the full glare 

 of a hot midsummer sun. 



Under such conditions a snake when exposed to 

 tubercular food resembles a European when exposed to 

 the dangers of malaria on an unhealthy tropical coast. 

 Vagary, in the liability to or immunity from a special 

 disease among closely allied families of mammals, is 

 exhibited in other than infectious diseases. Take, for 

 instance, gout. No one has ever clearly shown that 

 this affection occurs in animals other than man. It is 

 stated that parrots are liable to gout, but this question 

 assumes a different aspect when studied in relation with 

 an interesting disease of the hog known as guanin 

 gout. 



In man, apart from the pain and disturbance induced 

 by an attack of gout, we find deposited in the less vas- 

 cular parts, such as cartilage, tendinous and fibrous 

 tissues, masses of a crystalline nitrogenous substance 

 known as urate of soda. The crystals are needle-shaped, 

 and in severe cases form collections, familiar to those 

 who have very gouty relations, as chalk-stones. These 



