Abstract
SOME time ago I obtained from Mr. Fairgrieve the bodies of two Kangaroos, male and female, which died during the visit of Wombwell's Menagerie to the West of Scotland. In the female, which I received first, there was extensive ecchymosis in the nuchal region strongly suggestive of bites inflicted by her cage companions. To this I was disposed to refer the softening of the cervical spinal cord, which struck me when removing the brain. On visiting the menagerie, however, I found that her male companion was completely paraplegic, and that he had exhibited the same symptoms. The paraplegia had been progressive, and at the date of my visit, respiration was markedly thoracic. The animal was excited, but I could not satisfy myself whether this indicated cerebral disturbance or arose from the contagion of fear, a younger specimen in the same cage being much alarmed at my approach. The animal died at some distance from Glasgow. I made a careful post-mortem, and found no lesion save in the spinal cord and medulla oblongata. The removal of the cord was difficult, on account of the thickening of the membranes, and their adhesion to the bony walls of the canal. The cord was not merely softened; it was semifluid as far up as the origin of the cervical plexus, and welled out like thick cream from an accidental puncture of the sheath. Dr. Joseph Coats who assisted me in the examination, failed to detect any fatty degeneration of the nervous tissue. Its disintegration was, however, very complete. The other organs were healthy, and the body was well nourished. The disease was manifestly of short duration, and I can only hazard this conjecture as to its cause, that the cage was placed at the angle of the square formed by the cars, and that its inmates were thus exposed to draughts and damp, giving rise to acute meningitis. As, however, an Australian sportsman informs me that something of the same kind has been observed in Kangaroos kept in confinement, and thus deprived, to a large extent, of their customary exercise, I ask space for this abstract of the case, in hope that some of your contributors may be able to throw light on an interesting pathological question.
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YOUNG, J. Paraplegia in Kangaroos. Nature 2, 143 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/002143a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/002143a0
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