ANIMALS IN SICKNESS 1 63 



flock. At the Zoological Gardens, the monkeys 

 torment a sick one without mercy ; and unless it is 

 at once removed from the cage, it has little chance 

 of recovery. The small monkeys bite and pinch 

 it ; the larger ones swing it round by its tail ; and 

 when quite exhausted, or dead, as many monkeys as 

 can find room sit on its body. Frank Buckland's 

 monkeys, so far as we remember, exhibited consider- 

 able affection towards one another when ill. But 

 that may have been due to the civilising influences 

 of his society. Generally speaking, monkeys mope 

 and seek solitude when sick. But 'Sally/ the 

 chimpanzee at the Zoo, during her last illness 

 behaved exactly as a human being might in similar 

 circumstances. While the large gibbon in the next 

 cage, which died just afterwards, retired to the 

 furthest corner, and refused all assistance, ' Sally ' 

 came to the bars in front, where she could most 

 easily receive her medicine and food, and took her 

 balsam of aniseed for bronchitis, as her keepers 

 dictated. Only when very ill did she retire to her 

 kennel, and even then would reach out her hand to 

 the 'doctor/ But there is not much faith in 

 ' physicking ' at the Zoo. Prevention is better than 

 cure though one bear generally takes castor- oil, 

 which it likes, when suffering from a bad throat ; 

 and a very fine bird, the African hornbill, would 



