FOOT ON GOITRE IN ANIMALS. 27 



weighed forty- six ounces, the thyroid glands weighed four grains ; in 

 another, a male cub, which weighed thirty-three and a half ounces, the 

 glands weighed one grain and three-quarters ; in a third, a female cub, 

 weighing forty-one ounces, the glands weighed six and a half grains. 

 These three cubs died immediately after birth, apparently from having 

 been the weakly ones of litters larger than usual. The thyroid glands 

 of a full grown breeding lioness, which died lately from perforating 

 ulcer of the stomach — a disease which proved fatal to a camel in the 

 Hamburgh Zoological Gardens in August last — weighed 188 grains. 

 It may be of use to record these few observations on the size of these 

 organs in the young and full grown lions. 



I am indebted to Dr. Murie, the Prosector of the London Zoological 

 Gardens, for an account of a goitre in a racoon, and of the operation 

 performed for its removal. An adult female racoon had been in the 

 Gardens for about three years and a-half, during which time she had 

 apparently enjoyed perfect health. At the end of the time stated, a 

 slight swelling of the throat and under jaw was observed; but as the 

 animal took her food well and regularly, nothing was done in the way 

 of alleviation. Months elapsed, and the only sensible alteration was a 

 gradual increase of tumidity in the parts. Great difficulty was expe- 

 rienced in making an examination; so it was almost a year after the 

 tumour had been noticed that active interference was attempted. An 

 examination of the parts affected was made while the animal was under 

 the influence of chloroform, the administration of which proved tedious, 

 as no sooner did she get a whiff than "she rolled herself up, and bit in- 

 discriminately at whatever approached her. Dr. Murie was convinced, 

 by the examination, of the presence of a semi- solidified tumour, the 

 nature of which was somewhat uncertain, though from its position and 

 a degree of fluctuation, he feared an abscess and the implication of the 

 left thyroid gland. As treatment by medicine was considered to involve 

 great difficulties, it was resolved to try the effects of an operation. Dr. 

 Murie removed an encysted tumour, but, in doing so, discovered 

 another on the opposite side of the neck, which, previous to the in- 

 cision being made, could not be felt, from the tense and swollen condi- 

 tion of the parts. A considerable quantity of blood was lost during the 

 operation, and the animal died in about an hour afterwards, apparently 

 through shock or sanguineous loss. The tumours proved to be enlarged 

 thyroid glands. I may mention that the number and size of the blood- 

 vessels connected with this organ must always make its removal a dif- 

 ficult and dangerous proceeding. The diseased thyroid glands have 

 been several times successfully removed in horses ; but they are not so 

 largely developed as in carnivores and ruminants, and strange to say, 

 the successive or simultaneous extirpation of these organs has not ap- 

 peared to influence the health of the animal in any way, so that no 

 light is thrown upon the function of this part by the operation. (" Chau- 

 veau Traite d'Anatomie Comp. des Animaux Domestiques," p. 437.) It 

 does not appear that the strictly vascular form of goitre has been ob- 

 served in the lower animals. 



