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Show 1883.] MR. J. B. SUTTON ON THE DISEASES OF MONKEYS. 581 2. On the Diseases of Monkeys in the Society's Gardens. B y J. B. S U T T O N , Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, Middlesex Hospital. [Received November 15, 1883.] When "a generally received opinion" is made the subject of careful investigation, it not unfrequently turns out to be erroneous. So with regard to the diseases of Monkeys living in this country. The general public hold the belief endorsed by the medical profession, that nearly all the Monkeys brought to England die from tuberculosis. After careful examination I fail to find any reasonable excuse for so widely spread an error. In 1845 Dr. Percy, in a paper published in this Society's ' Proceedings ' gave an account of his " Management of Monkeys in Confinement." At the end of the article he mentioned some diseases to which these animals are liable ; in one only did he find phthisis pul-monalis, and that was in a Rhesus (Macacus rhesus), bought from an itinerant showman. Dr. Crisp reported upon sixty-seven inspections of the Quadrumana, with three cases only of tubercle. In 1881 the Pathological Society of London, on the proposal of Mr. Hutchinson, appointed a Committee to report on the present state of our knowledge of the diseases of the lower animals, and on the best means for its advancement, and especially to make use of the material available at the Society's Gardens, which, through the kindness and influence of Professor Flower, had been placed at its disposal by this Societyl. Since that date, as one of their Committee, I have had excellent opportunities of investigating Comparative Pathology in all varieties of animals dying in the Society's Gardens, whereby much new matter has come to light. As the Quadrumana are so near to man, they have naturally attracted a considerable share of my attention. From Dec. 1, 1881, to March 30, 1883, an interval of sixteen months, one hundred and ten Quadrumana of various species died. Of this number I examined the viscera of ninety-three. 1. Tubercle. This caused death in three instances only. Two were Rhesus Monkeys, and the third a Vervet Monkey, all Old-World species. The disease was unmistakable, tubercular phthisis associated with cavities in the apices of the lungs, in every point resembling the disease as met with in the human subject. 2. Bronchitis. A very slight attack of this affection appears to be rapidly fatal. It was met with in twenty-two cases, sometimes associated with emphysema, generally vesicular, but occasionally of the interlobular variety. 3. Pneumonia in its lobar form is not so common ; three deaths alone could be satisfactorily traced to this cause. The lobular form is frequent, seven deaths having been occasioned by it. Three of the i Vide Path. Soc. Trans. 1882, "Report of Council." |