SECTION XIV 
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 
There is a long list of diseases including among others 
such conditions as hyperthyroidism, osteodytrophies, 
diabetes and gout which are spoken of as constitutional 
but which in reality are usually dependent upon some 
lesion peculiar to a definite organ. Several have been 
discussed under systemic diseases so that there remain 
for consideration in this section only two, gout 
and diabetes. 
Constitutional diseases are recognized in wild animals 
either not at all or by some happy chance which permits of 
examination direct enough to elicit diagnostic criteria. 
Gout has been discovered for example in some parrots 
and herons because of their swollen feet and their move- 
ments. In veterinaiy practice fairly accurate diagnoses 
are possible but in wild collections they are nearly always 
hit or miss. Therapeutics naturally follow this rule. 
Gout. 
Gout in mammals has been observed in the London 
Zoological Garden but has not been encountered here or 
we have overlooked it. A\dan gout on the other hand in 
one of its forms comes to our attention not infrequently. 
It occurs most often in parrots, gallinaceous and anserine 
birds and herons ; occasionally accipitrine birds mil suffer 
mth it, an observation more often recorded in European 
collections than with us. The figures show no pre- 
dominance of percentage for any order but the records 
indicate that the most beautiful examples of internal 
uratic deposits occur in the anserine birds and parrots, 
while the best specimen of general gout, including the 
joints, was found in a boat-billed heron {Ccmcroma 
cochlearia) quoted below. 
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