Evening star., 1932-03-01
NGI LOSES GROUND IN FIGHT:
AIR OF GLOOM AT LION HOUSE
If Gorilla Survives, He'll Owe
Life to Physician Who
DisIikes Publicity.
DR.. Eckhardt Has Given Lot
of His Time to Ape for
Four Years.

N'gi, the gorilla, was "a little of"
today.
DR.. David E. Buckingham, the vet
erinarian, who is attending the little
ape suffering from bronchial pneu-
monia, was confident after looking over
his patient this morning that he had
not suffered definite turn for the
worse, but that there are bound to be
days when he will not seem quite SO
well.
There was an atmosphere of gloom
about the lion house.
When looked at him this morn
ing, it hit me pretty hard" said Paul
Hollup, N'gi keeper. Il guess We had
expected HIM to get well too fast with
the oxygen and it's going to be a slow
job"
The little gorilla lay listlessly on his
back in the straw, grinding his teeth.
Zoo attendants are trying to deduce
the meaning of such a symptom. He
also shows a catch In his breath about
once a minute.
Heart Action Good.
DR.. Buckingham, however. found the
heart action good and the breathing
satisfactory It merely seemed as If
N'gi was tired after his unexpected re-
vival during the last three days.
He continued to eat fairly well. Dur
ing the night he consumed two bananas,
pear and a tomato. He shows a de-
cided preference for red bananas. DR..
William M. Mann, Zoo director, is hav-
ing some sauer kraut cooked to feed him
this afternoon. When he first came to
the Zoo sauer kraut juice was favorite
dish.
Among N'gi's visitors this morning
was Franz WoSka, described by DR..
Mann as about the greatest animal
trainer in America" WoSka specialiZes
in lions and tigers.
Two or three times day a quiet
hammered man, who dislikes publicity,
slips into N'gi'S cage, busies himself
with black bag and StethoScope and
then hurriedly slips out again and dis
appears.
He is DR.. John c. Eckhardt, promi-
nent Washington pediatric1an. to whose
untiring efforts, Zoo officials believe,
the little gorilla largey will owe his
life If he recovers
None has suspected that for nearly
four years DR.. Eckhardt has been N'gfs
physician, devoting to the little gorilla
a great deal of time which he could i'll
afford out Of his busy days, and entirely
without compensation. Although a
poor man, DR.. Eckhardt has paid for
much of the medicine and the special
food preparations he has prescribed.
His interests have not been In any sense
sentimental, although he has learned
through the years to appreciate the
almost human" qualities of his pa
tient. He has been impelled by two
motives, desire to learn such sidelights
as the health of the baby gorilla might
throw on the health of human babies
and friendship for DR.. Mann, who is
devoted to N'gi.
Interested in Food Values.
When the little gorilla first came to
Washington DR.. Eckhardt was the staff
physician Of the National Child Re-
search Center. He was especially in
terested in the dietary problems of
children and the values of different
food combinations at different ages.
The director of the Child Research
Center, Dr. Mandell Sherman, became
interested in Ngi as a psychological
specimen and took DR.. Eckhardt along
with him.
Now the problem of raising a gorilla
in captivity was largely one of diet
N'gi had just passed the normal nurs-
ing stage. Nobody mad the slightest
idea of what constituted the normal
food Of young gorilla. All that was
known was that the great ape was a
highly specialized animal and that the
few who had been in captivity soon had
sickened and died, despite everything
that could be done for them. 1t was