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Show 1884.] ON THE DISEASES OF CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS. 177 1. On the Diseases of the Carnivorous Mammals in the Society's Gardens. By J. B. S U T T O N , Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, Middlesex Hospital Medical College. [Eeceived February 26, 1884.] Introduction. In this paper it is proposed to give an account, as briefly as is consistent with accuracy and clearness, of some of the more important diseases which affect the Carnivorous Mammals, prisoners in the Society's Gardens. So far as disease is concerned, there is no need to draw particular distinction between the various groups of this great class of animals. It is sufficient for m y purpose to know the kind of food and general habits of any particular animal ; consequently, in this paper, the refinements of zoological classification will be set aside, and the word " carnivorous " will be used in the broadest acceptation of that term. The splendid and varied collection of flesh-eating animals, the property of this Society, offered me a rich hunting-ground for pathological spoil, and rich has been the ingathering. From the outset of my post-mortem experience among these animals, m y attention has always been aroused by two very opposite conditions of things:-one is the paucity, and in some cases, the total absence, of lesions to account for death ; in the other case, one is struck with the existence of extensive disease of vital organs, which must have been present for a considerable period without destroying life. For example, a Tiger is reported to be ailing, and in a few days the creature is dead. At the autopsy nothing to account satisfactorily for the animal's death can be discerned even after the most diligent search. Whereas an Esquimaux Dog which had been on the sick list for some time before its death, presented the following list of pathological conditions :-Ulceration of the left fore leg, probably cancerous; old valvular disease of the left side of the heart; atheroma of the aortic arch; three old infarctions in the liver, with three large cysts in the same organ. In addition to these lesions of important viscera, it had an enlarged prostate, an abscess in each testicle, carious teeth (a very rare condition in wild animals), psoro-sperms by thousands scattered through the voluntary muscles and lungs, and a venous naevus of the skin. Of course it is within the bounds of probability that, in some of these cases where the animals die with only a few days of previous illness, they have been seized with some acute malady, which up to the present has eluded m y search. Another fact of great importance in connexion with this observation should be mentioned. It is the great tendency of animals to die in pairs: for example, a Bear died; three days after its companion was found dead: no obvious lesion beyond evidence of inflammation of the alimentary canal in |