Evening star., 1932-02-26

w WITH special apparatus
a rushed here from the New
wv York Medical Center set up
about the cage, a group
of Washington physicians
awaited anxiously this afternoon to OBJ
serve the effects of high concentra-
tions OF oxygen on N'gi, the 6-year-old
gorilla at the Zoo, who is seriously i'll
with bronchial pneumonia.
All THE morning was required to ad-
Just the device which transformed the
cage into an oxygen room that re-
tains the oxygen while allowing the
carbon dioyide to filter out.
During the hours while the two
technicians who brought the device
here, assisted by Zoo attendants, were
putting up the walls and saving
through the iron bars of the cage to
admit the oxygen tubes N'gi lay mo-
tionless, covered with burlap blanket
on his bed of straw. He took no in
terest in the strange happenings, al
though they greatly excited Jo-Jo, the
chimpanzee in the next cage, who kept
up a continuous screaming.
Treatment to Continue.
" there are any effects from the
oxygen the treatment will be kept up
until the gorilla dies or is well on the
way to recovery. 1t is not intended, it
was explained, as a magical cure Tor
pneumonia. but acts to keep up the
patients general condition until nat
ural restorative forces can assert them
selves.
Efforts to do this with adrenalin,
strychnine and whisky, have had little
effect because of the difficulty OF ad-
ministering these drugs. Nobody knows
how oxygen will work on a gorilla, al
though there is no reason to belleVe
that the effects will be different than
in the case of a human being.
1t was possible to get small swallow
of whisky down the gorillas throat.
After that he refused to take any more
and wiped his lips with straw to re-
move the taste. This is Strikingly dill
ferent from the reaction of the CHM
panzee, who likes the taste of whisky
and yells for more.
The oxygen concentration Will be kept
between 40 and go per cent, depending
on the apparent effects. The normal
amount of oxygen in the air is about
20 per cent. Dr. John H. Eckhardt,
.prominent Washington pediatrician, who
has attended N'gi since he came to
Washington. is keeping close watch on
the effect of the gas, lest 1t make Ngl
too frisky so that he will wreck the
apparatus.
Pulse Is Normal.
The gorillas pulse and respiration
rate we're normal just before the oxygen
was turned on Throughout his illness
special precautions have been taken
against allowing him to get eXclted'
A condition of excitement usually is
fatal TO a sick animal.
For the past two weeks, according TO
William H Blackburn, headkeeper,
N'gi has beer at his lowest during the
morning, but each day has revived
somewhat late in the afternoon. Only
after the lion house is closed does he
voluntarily accept any food or move
around in his cage. For the first time
today the lion house was closed to all
visitors, except for the physicians IN
vited by Dr. Mann to witness the treat
ment.
This is the first time, it was ex-
Diained, that this type Of apparatus, an
, Ncv' vcri; Medical Center, has been
r"ci in Wellington end the first time
/ it cve- has been uced for a sick animal.
He Eats an Orange.
Before the oxygen was turned on
| N'gi's chest was creased with mixture
| of hog fat and quinine, which has had
some good results in the past, and he
ate an orange.
All last night and today, DR.. Mann
said, his telephone has been ringing
constantly with inquiries after the con-
dition of the gorilla, probably the best
known animal ever at the Zoo. Many
J have called to tell how they treated
children in cases pneumonia, but,