386 SELF-SUBMISSION OF ANIMALS TO 



A third and still more interesting class of cases is repre- 

 sented by the chimpanzee, soko, or other anthropoid apes, 

 staunching by means of their hands or fingers, or of leaves, turf, 

 or grass stuffed into them or otherwise, and acting as compres- 

 sants, absorbents, or styptics, their own bleeding wounds, 

 produced by man (Livingstone). 



Many animals lick their own or each others' wounds, and 

 there is evidence, not sufficient however either as to quantity 

 or character, to show that this operation has a therapeutic 

 effect. Thus bears lick the wounds of their cubs. 



Somewhat allied to surgical operations are the efforts 

 of various animals, such as the horse, dog, cat, ox, sheep, 

 monkey, to free themselves of vermin or of the itchiness 

 usually caused by vermin, by the use of their paws or teeth, 

 in picking, biting, or scratching, or by simply rubbing the 

 body or parts thereof against trees, walls, fences, or rails. 



While many animals thus deal with themselves medically, 

 medicinally, or surgically, the value of co-operation, the 

 need of assistance, is usually recognised, and hence the 

 frequency with which they seek and obtain surgical, medical, 

 obstetrical, or other aid. Such aid is offered also without 

 its being sought for, as in the case of mothers with their 

 young, or of the able-bodied with the helpless or the or- 

 phaned. Monkeys clear the skin from vermin in the dog, cat, 

 and parrot ; and the bitch does so in her puppies, just as 

 baboons are hired out to do such a service for man himself 

 (Houzeau) . 



Various animals gnaw through the umbilical cord of 

 their offspring. Obstetrical assistance is given to each other 

 by cats. A species of frog has the distinctive or specific 

 appellation obstetricans it is known as the ' obstetric frog ; ' 

 and a similar designation might be fittingly applied to cer- 

 tain ants. A mother cat employed a nursemaid in the person 

 of a half-grown kitten, placing her in charge of her litter 

 (Wood). A greyhound also, 'having a larger litter than 

 she could well bring up herself,' hired a wet nurse in the 

 form of a common collie bitch, ( who came at regular stated 

 times, and was rewarded for her services by having served 

 out to her by the mother a supply of meat and bones ; * 



