54 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



A paper was read, 



On a Case of Hemiplegia in a Monkey, consequent on an Injury 

 of the Head. By the Rev. Samuel Haughton, M. D., F. T. C. D. 



During the summer of 1863 a small Monkey, of the species Cercopi- 

 thecus ruber, died in the Zoological Gardens of Dublin. He had had 

 convulsions occasionally for four weeks preceding his death, and for 

 upwards of two years had not had the use of his right hand, which was 

 paralyzed, both forearm and hand being permanently flexed. His ha- 

 bits were odd, as he shunned the society of his fellows, who seemed to 

 persecute him, although rather afraid of him, particularly when he re- 

 tired to a corner of the cage, and, thrusting out the elbow of his para- 

 lyzed arm, cried out " Chick, chick, chick." On such occasions his 

 conduct reminded me strongly of that of idiotic persons of our own 

 species, who are half- annoyed and half-pleased at the petty persecutions 

 of boys that find a questionable enjoyment in tormenting them. 



On a post-mortem examination I found — weight, 8lbs. ; digestive 

 viscera, 1 lb. 4J oz. ; heart and lungs, 3^ oz. ; kidneys, f oz. ; brain, 

 2} oz. 



The cause of death was found to be softening of the brain, produced 

 by an old depressed fracture of the left parietal bone, the olfac- 

 tory lobes also being found to be quite black. The skull was frac- 

 tured by a blow that broke the left parietal bone along the edge of 

 the temporal muscle, driving inwards the portion lying under that 

 muscle, and splitting the external portion into two nearly equal parts. 

 A piece of the frontal bone also was broken, equalling in size either of 

 the fractured portions of the parietal bone. The piece of bone, driven 

 inwards at right angles to the plane of the skull, entered the middle 

 lobe of the brain, causing a softening, absorption, and ultimately a fall- 

 ing- in of the posterior lobe into the space left vacant by the destruction 

 of the middle cerebral lobe. 



The points in this case that seem to be of interest are the follow- 

 ing, which are not without their analogies in the human subject : — 

 1. The slow rate of progress of injury to the mental faculties ; 2. The 

 late period at which convulsions set in, after the establishment of idiocy 

 and paralysis ; 3. The exact agreement of the paresis of the muscular 

 system with the seat of injury of the opposite side of the brain. The de- 

 pressed bone penetrated to the very centre of the middle lobe, and the 

 brain was softened for half an inch all round the bone :. the corpus stri- 

 atum being involved in the softening. 



It was generally supposed that the large percentage of deaths of 

 Monkeys in the Dublin Zoological Gardens was due to the formation of tu- 

 bercle in their lungs. On dissecting many of these Monkeys, I have failed 

 to discover any trace of tubercle, and I believe that the Monkeys died 

 of " bread and milk." Many of them showed symptoms of purpuric 

 scurvy spots in the kidneys, pericardium, and intestines, and other signs 

 of extravasation of the red globules of the blood. By directing atten- 



