BUILDING 28l 



I believe that one of these apes could be kept in good 

 condition for any length of time if he were supplied with a 

 normal humidity in an atmosphere laden with miasma and 

 allowed to vary in its temperature. A constant degree of 

 heat is not good for any animal. There is no place in all 

 the earth where nature sustains a uniform degree of heat. 

 We need not go to either extreme, but a change is requi- 

 site to bring into play all the organs of the body. 



The treatment which I would recommend for the care 

 of apes is to build them a house entirely apart from that of 

 other animals. It should be eighteen or twenty feet wide 

 by thirty-five or forty feet long, and at least fifteen feet high. 

 It should have no floor except earth, and that should be 

 of sandy loam or vegetable earth. In one end of this 

 building there should be a pool of water twelve or fifteen 

 feet in diameter ; and, imbedded in mold under the water, 

 there should be a steam coil to regulate the temperature 

 as may be desired. In this pool should be grown a dense 

 crop of water plants such as are found in the marshes of 

 the country in which the gorilla lives. This pool should 

 not be cleaned out nor the water changed ; but the plants 

 should be allowed to grow and decay in a natural way. 

 Neither the pool nor the house should be kept at a uni- 

 form heat, but the temperature should be allowed to vary 

 from 6o° to 90 . 



In addition to the things above mentioned, the place 

 should be provided with the means of giving it a spray of 

 tepid water, which shouli be turned on once or twice a 

 day and allowed to continue for at least an hour at a time. 

 The water for this purpose should be taken from the pool, 



