16 
Few deaths of importance have occurred, the chief ones 
being two female lions in March; an albino Himalayan 
bear, purchased August 1st, 1890, died October 29th, 1903 ; 
a female zebra, born March 5th, 1903, died November 28th, 
and a male Somali buffalo, received December 10th, 1891, 
died December 27th, 1903. 
A review of the pathological investigations carried on 
throughout the year is contained in the accompanying re- 
port of Dr. Penrose. From the beginning this work has 
been prosecuted with cautious avoidance of conclusions or 
publications not verified to the last detail. It must be 
obvious that in a field of investigation hitherto so little 
known, the labor and time required in confirming observa- 
tions for which there is often no other authority, is very 
great, and when conducted in a fitting spirit of scientific 
reserve, progress is necessarily slow ; but the store of obser- 
vations and material is growing, and the importance of 
these researches both to the increase of knowledge and to 
the practical welfare of the collection has become so evident 
to the Board, that plans have been prepared for altering 
the old Palm House into an infirmary containing a receiv- 
ing room for new arrivals, a hospital for the care of sick, 
especially in cases of disease suspected of being communi- 
cable to other animals, an operating room, and a laboratory 
designed for a more thorough study of all cases of death 
occurring in the Gardens than is possible under the system 
practiced during the past two years. The design includes 
an incinerating furnace for the destruction of waste material. 
This building will be erected out of the appropriation of 
S5000 for permanent improvements, made by the City 
Councils through the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, 
and it seems proper that acknowledgment should be made 
here of the broad and intelligent co-operation on the part 
of these representatives of the city, which has enabled the 
Society to carry on this important work with facilities equal 
to the best. 
Early in the year the closing of the street which formerly 
led to the back entrance of the Gardens, and the opening 
