'266 GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



atmosphere, and depriving him of the poison con- 

 tained in the malarious air in which he spends his 

 entire life. Both of these apes need humidity. The 

 chimpanzee will live longer than a gorilla in a dry 

 air, but neither of them can long survive it, and it 

 would appear that a salt atmosphere is best for the 

 gorilla. 



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 tem- 

 perature. A constant degree of heat is not good for 

 any animal, there is nowhere in all the earth that 

 nature sustains a uniform degree of it. We need not 

 go to either extreme, but a change is requisite to 

 bring into play all the organs of the body. 



The theory of their treatment which I would 

 advance is to build them a house entirely apart from 

 that of any other animal. It should be i8 or 20 

 feet wide by 35 or 40 long, and at least 1 5 feet high. 

 It should have no floor except earth, and that should 

 be of sandy loam or vegetable mould. In one end 

 of this building there should be a pool of water 

 12 or 15 feet in diameter, and embedded in the 

 mould under the water should be a steam coil to 

 regulate the temperature as might 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 or the water changed, but the plants 

 should be allowed to grow and decay in a natural 



