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Show 602 DR. E. CRISP ON THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. [May 23, oily, liquid nature) was very abundant, but not deposited under the skin as in the Hippopotamus, in the Hogs (Suidce), and in some other animals. Gordon Cumming speaks of the abundance of fat in the inside of m a n y elephants that he killed ; and the same remark is made by other travellers. I purposely introduce these questions of food and fat, as some of m y hearers (who m a y not be anatomists) may think a digression of this kind a relief among dry anatomical details. For the better understanding of the subject, I have placed before the Society drawings, of nearly the natural size, of the organs of all the thoracic and abdominal viscera, as well as casts and preparations by way of illustration. Time will not allow m e to describe all the anatomy of this animal; indeed the stomach alone, if properly studied, might form the subject of a long paper. I shall therefore on the present occasion confine myself to the \iseeral anatomy, or to each parts of it as I was able to investigate, and to the skin-glands. In my next paper I will remark on the peculiarities of the viscera of the Hippopotamus as compared with tho.«.e of the otht r pachyderms First, of tbe skin-glands. Mr. Tomes in lrs.'-O, sonn af'hr the arrival of the first Hippopotamus at the Gardens, read a paper* " O n the Blood-coloured Exudation from the Skin of the Hippopotamus." H e sat. s, " \\ v have, however, »i<fhcu ut i * ideuce to ft arrant the conclusion that the thick tenacious exudation, whether coloured or otherwise, is jmured nut only during the time the skin is immersed in water, and that it has an csperial reference to the agnatic habits of the animal. It appears for the time to coin.r* the surface of the body into a mucous inemhraue, and then, on the animal leaving the water, to furuisb b\ iu iu.-piiMMitioii mi epidermis. The examination of the structure of the skin will become a subject of great physiological interest." W h e n 1 discovered the gUiid* 1 HID about to mention I did not know of Mr. Tomes's paper, m y attention having being subsequently directed to it by Mr. Bartlett. I'nder the skin, about an inch or more below the surface, are numerous small glands of a somewhat rounded form, about 2 lines in diameter and \ line in thickness; they are generally seated about \ inch from each other, but in some parts of the body they are further apart. From each generally proceeds two ducts, of a somewhat spiral form ; in other instances I have been able to discover only one duct. In the preparation b< fore the Society some of these duets are visible to the naked eye. The condition of the skin from the application of heat has not enabled me to make so satisfactory a microscopic examination of these organs as I otherwise could have done. The subjoined sketch which I have made gives a tolerable indication of the character of these glands and their ducts. Figure 1 represents the glands of their natural size, and figure 2 shows the ducts magnified about 10 diameters * I'n-c Z<.o] .N>.\ l/sf-O, p. I HO. |
