FOREWORD 
BY 
CHARLES B. PENROSE 
The work on which this book is based was begun in 
November, 1901. From that date, systematic autopsies 
were made on animals dying in the Philadelphia Zoo- 
logical Garden. Previously autopsies had been made 
very rarely and only on animals of especial importance 
and interest. Pathological conditions were occasionally 
noted in animals subjected to anatomical study. The 
work was strictly volunteer, for there was no one on whom 
the Society had the right to call. Dr. Henrj^ C. Chapman, 
a former Director, whose interest was in physiology and 
comparative anatomy, made nearly all the autopsies that 
were made before the beginning of the present work. In 
the annual reports from the foundation of the Garden in 
1872, very few such examinations are recorded. In some 
reports there are lists of important deaths, but no record 
of the cause of death. 
This state of things was not peculiar to the Philadel- 
phia Garden. It existed in every zoological garden in the 
world. It exists in most of them today. When an animal 
died it had no interest or value except for its hide and 
bones. Rare specimens were sent to the Academy of 
Natural Sciences from the Philadelphia Garden. The 
great majority, however, were immediately destroyed, 
and thus during the twenty-nine years from the founda- 
tion of the Garden, preceding this work, there have been 
lost many opportunities — some of which will never recur 
— of increasing our knowledge of pathology. 
This book gives results of the study of animals that 
have not been subjected to experimental procedures and 
conditions, and though their mode of life has not been 
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