WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
“I have been told that the way the mother hippopotamus 
nurtures her child during its infancy is actually in the water. 
When there with the baby she manages by some mechanical 
process to press the milk out — the milk floats on the watei\ and 
the young one instinctively sucks it. I cannot vouch for this 
theory as I have never seen it done, and therefore give it to you 
as it was given to me, for what it is worth. “ M. W.” 
No. 5. I, “ 16, 1872. 
“ Sir, — In tlie Daily Telegraph report of yesterday, under the 
heading ‘ Our last Hippopotamus,’ the special reporter i3refaces 
his account of the letters of advice given you as to the proposed 
best methods of capturing the young calf from its powerful and 
watchful mother, with the following remark : ‘ There is a comic 
element in most human affairs.’ Certainly the plans of chloro- 
forming or of stupefying the dam with sulphur, which the advice 
given offers you, are very unique, and the wiseacres deserve a 
patent for stupidity ; but by far the most comical seems to be 
the reporter’s own remark that ‘ass’s milk was made use of to 
feed the young stranger with, because cow’s milk was found to 
be too rich.’ 
“Will you kindly through advertisement in the Telegraph or 
otherwise inform the public where this London milk is to be 
obtained. And if you would persuade the worthy dairyman to 
have the walls and hoardings of London chalked with his address, 
would he not speedily realize an ample fortune 1 
“ By the way, as you are in the secret you ought to profit by 
it, if only for finding him out, and you should at once enter into 
partnership with him, and then double and treble the present 
stock of cows however large that may be ; and there cannot be 
the least doubt that you, as well as he, will soon ride in your 
carriages. 
“Wishing for both of you your well-deserved success. 
“A Lover of Good Milk.” 
No. 6. “Aov. 9, 1872. 
“Sir,— A t the death of tlie last baby hippopotamus you 
expressed a wish that some travellers would discover the way 
such animals should be treated. 
“ They need not travel far to discover that all animals at 
such a time seek seclusion. 
“ Had the poor hiiDpopotamus then been left perfectly quiet, 
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