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Show Tsarina fhe Pvthon PO fho Stnmch Ache v ija t iifa LjV luut uiui i ic iw. How Science Saved Our Most Interesting Reptile Invalid from Deliberate A Remarkable Photograph Photo-graph Showing Dr. Ditmars. Dit-mars. of the Bronx Zoological Park, New York, Pushing a Forty-Pound Forty-Pound Pig Down Tsarina's Tsar-ina's Throat to Prevent Her Suicide. The Photograph Photo-graph Is Arranged to Show the Great Length of the Serpent Twenty-: three Feet from Nose Tip to Tail Tip. Suicide and Is Now Studying Her Symptoms for nd Saved Our Most -fe--. ' ' ' nvalid from Deliberate 'v'V The Skeleton of a Large Snake, Showing the Skeletal Semi-Circular Spines That Guard Its "Inner Tube" and Possible New Ligkt on One of tbe Causes of Cancer few flabby folds of the skin do-noting do-noting the astounding as-tounding feat that has taken place. ' ' A yawn or two effaces all traces of the task except the distended potation pota-tion of the body I slowly forcing the prey into the stomach by a combination of undulatory movements and an anterior pressure pres-sure caused by drawing the muscles together. Meantime the By Dr. W. H. Ballou. TSARINA, the great regal pylhon at the New York Zoological Park in the Bronx, has taken the place of Dinah, the famous gorilla, as our most interesting animal invalid. Tsarina is the largest python in captivity. She measures twenty-three Mechanical Device for Forcibly Feeding Snakes That Refuse to Eat. The Food Is Forded Into the Reptile's Throat by What Is in Effect a Horizontal Jack. Inset Is Another Unusual Photograph Showing a Snake in the First Stages tf Natural Feeding. The Rat Is Being Slowly I Squeezed to Pulp in the Tightening Coils. I ' By Dr. W. H. Ballou. 6 lg ! - gjfif SARINA, the great regal pylhon at the -f - ' New York Zoological Park in the - Bronx, has taken the place of Dinah, ", ' , .. , the famous gorilla, as our most interesting " ' animal invalid. Tsarina is the largest python fflkfkj BS"" " - 3" Tsarnnt i ut eJ-es ti ng to sciem t . ; 1 Only one regal python longer than Tsarina '" , has ever been found. That measured thirty "i&ifef' ' " 11P feet. Tsarina's beautiful, graceful folds and rKoTo v """wkaSiiMiP" shining, jeweled skin no doubt made her P""' stories,'1 I prefer to quote accurately what happened from his "Reptiles of the World": ' ' Among snakes the lower jaw is composed of two elongated, nearly straight bones that are connected in front merely by an elastic, elas-tic, ligament. This suspension suspen-sion of the lower jaw and the attachment of the upper up-per jaw bones provide for areat elasticitv and enable Natural Feeding Again. Here the Rat, Bones All Broken "Under the Pressure of the Coils, Begins His Journey Down the Snake's Digestive Apparatus. Are the Foundation for the Powerful Musclei That Form Its Rounded Body. of the "carrier" is given at less than a mi-cromillimeter, mi-cromillimeter, or .0394 parts of an inch. The width of its body was 35 microrailli- meters, the diameter of its head L!4 miero millimeters, and the width of its intestinal canal 16 micromillimeters. Three lips were detected. The mouth had no throat. The front end "of the body was supplied with narrow, nar-row, lateral and euticular wings. Within this infinitely minute creature was' visible a shadow, supposed to be the vegetable germ of at least one form of cancer, just detectable detect-able by the most powerful microscope extant. The nematodes are very resistant to digestive diges-tive fluids and are much greater menaces to I all animal, life, including humans, than cither trematode or cestode worms, also disease dis-ease carriers. They are more typical of the popular conception of the word "worm" than any other representative of the other order of helminths. They endanger life in insufficiently cooked foods. Like the trichina, tri-china, the disease carrier of pork, they block all the ferments of digestion, penetrate the mucous membrane, circulate in the blood and finally lodge in congenial tissues of the body, to become encysted, provided that the body is able to stand the inflammation produced pro-duced by the invasion. And there certainly is evidence that, they are directly concerned j in some types of cancer. - yr "Tsarina," says Dr. Ditmars, "has y&r-many y&r-many of the troubles of pythons in captivity. Pythons contract a deadly mouth disease at times, as do all big snakes. T think this is brought about by an enervated condition, robbing the blood of its germicidal qualities, during a period of disordered .stomach. As the mouth of a snake that is not feeding becomes be-comes stored with stagnant salivary secretions, secre-tions, this region is attacked by the many kinds of bacteria that always exist in the mouth. A slight sore or bruise is generally the start of the trouble. "The infected sore causes intense irritation, irrita-tion, followed by a sloughing. If not immediately imme-diately arrested it works deeper, attacking the jaw-bones. The teeth become loosened and fall out and necrosis of the bone de-velopes. de-velopes. Microscopical examination of the diseased tissue points to a specific bacillus, a thick, rod-shaped form. We now detect the approach of the disease immediately by the presence of a red spot, examining all specimens speci-mens once or twice a week, and stop the growth by an antiseptic solution. "Iii case of loose teeth, they are removed; of necrosis, the bone is removed and the wound treated. During this treatment and after the operation, and this also applies to deadly cobras, the serpent is fed forcibly with beaten eggs through a rubber tube." the eyes of a serpent are always open, even when asleep, and while swallowing prey the eyes note any possible hostile movement in - the vicinity, even if asleep." The forty-pound pig was thrust into Tsarina by a stout pole as shown in the photograph the front end of which was caught in the pig's skull. It was forced down for a distance of four feet, after ,which the remaining swallowing process went on naturally. After this Tsarina became even more distressed. dis-tressed. Clearly she had indigestion, and a snake's stomach ache, as has been pointed out, is no joke. It affects the whole length of the body which is actually one long stomach hampers the movements of the muscle rings that give locomotion and stops it from the squeezing motions so necessary for preliminary treatment of food and digestion. di-gestion. At last Tsarina's ailment was diagnosed as cancer and an operation was decided upon. The diagnosis changed to that of twisted intestine before the surgeons began cutting. Now the big snake's stomach ache is said to come from the presence of an obscure ob-scure class of entoza known as nematodes, established as cancer carriers by the National Na-tional Commission on Carcinoma, composed of Dr. Harvey R. Gaylord, director: Millard C. Marsh, biologist; Frederick C. Busch. internist, in-ternist, and. Burton T. Simpson, pathologist, of the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Malig-nant Diseases. Buffalo, N. Y. Their investigations investi-gations established that these microscopic worms were one of the Secondary causes or carriers of cancer in salmon, trout and other fishes. Since this was established Tsarina's twenty-foot stomach ache has become of more interest in-terest to science than before because observation ob-servation and treatment may establish facts of greatest use in the study of this "obscure and horrible disease in man. Dr. Ransom's measurements of the nematodes nema-todes defy the mind's conception. The length leaei ved. .wnat ma k e s Tsarina so interesting to science. Only one regal python longer than Tsarina has ever been found. That measured thirty feet. Tsarina's beautiful, graceful folds and shining, jeweled skin no doubt made her very desirable to suitors in her native jungle. And her great length made her most formid-ible formid-ible to her enemies and her food supply. But now Tsarina, if she-reasons at all about it. would cheerfully give up several feet of length, no doubt, to be rid of the same number num-ber of feet of discomfort. Similarly the longest long-est necked and therefore lordliest and most admired giraffe is the fortunate one among his herd until his six or seven feet of throat gets "a cold in it." Then the short-necked giraffes have their inning. So, too, the longest long-est back-legged kangaroo is the Beau Brum-mel Brum-mel and paladin of his Australian harem until un-til he gets a case of sciatica. Then every extra ex-tra inch of leg muscle is a handicap. Thus nature keeps her eternal balance : or as Jack Johnson, considering those who went up against him in the squared circle, used to formulate the cosmic law: "The bigger they are the harder they fall!" Tsarina, from the aesthetics of suakedom, is a beauty indeed. Dr. Raymond L. Ditmars, Dit-mars, the noted zoologist of the Bronx Zoo. author of a dozen books on snakes, and. indeed, the world's foremost authority upon them, waxes enthusiastic in his description of her. "'Her pattern." he says, "is of rich j reticulations of yellow, brown and black, like Oriental tapestry, combined with a jewelled jew-elled iridescence glowing in all the high lights of her folds. Her eyes are ruddy, like ruby buttons, and her pupils are vertical .like a cat's." Tsarina has been at the park for ten years. She was captured on the island of Borneo. .As with most ladies, her (Bge is uncertain. iThe first thing that directed attention to 2 Tsarina's ill health was her attempt at stii-cide. stii-cide. When the regal python decides that life is not worth living it proceeds to fade , away in as dignified a manner as any ancient Roman who let his life out through his opened veins. The python coils up and refuses re-fuses to eat. Tims life gradually and calmly gives way to oblivion. Once before Tsarina had tried suicide upon her arrival at the zoo. No doubt she was homesick. At any rate, says Dr. Ditmars : "In the first months of her confinement she was nervous and lrrit-ible. lrrit-ible. steadily refusing food and becoming badly emaciated. Forcible feeding saved her from suicide. Thereafter she would feed voluntarily, swallowing an eight-pound rooster, feathers, fighting spurs and all. Again, she would receive two chickens or several rabbits at intervals of ten days apart. In the. bathing tank she would coil and bathe for a week, while digesting her meal. She also took kindly, occasionally, to a twenty-five-pound pig." Early this Spring she manifested the well-known well-known symptoms of suicidal intent. A forty-pound forty-pound pig was bought for her and preparations prepara-tions were made to finish her hunger strike in much the same way it was ended for the suffragettes by forcibly feeding. This pig. to preserve her from suicide, was some five times larger in body than Tsarina's neck. As Dr. Ditmars characterizes descriptions of snake swallowing as "a string of ridiculous Copyrig the serpent to engulf its prey entire. The prey is usually grasped by the snout when the performance commences. One of the upper jaw' bones and the corresponding lower jaw-. jaw-. bone reach forward. The bones close upon the prey by inserting the recurved teeth, the side of the head is pulled back, drawing the animal a short distance into the mouth. The process is repeated with the othenside of the head, each side working in alternation while the quarry is pulled into the mouth and forced into the throat, which, being elastic, stretches to receive it. "A lateral undulatory movement of the neck commences, which literally seizes the creature in suctorial fashion, greatly assisting assist-ing the now thoroughly distended jaws. The lever-like suspension of the lower jawbones becomes greatly strained for its normal setting set-ting and possibly forms a tight band about the prey, the upper jaw alone pulling in the animal, assisted by movements of the neck. "The serpent's eyes bulge and the skin of the neck is so distended as to widely separate sep-arate the rows of scales. At frequent intervals inter-vals the snake pauses to rest, when it forces from between the animal and the lower jaw its tubular breathing appendage. One or two good breaths taken, and then recommences recom-mences what seems like a most heroic task. Finally, the sinuous movements of the throat engulf the heavy prey. The snake head quickly assumes its normal aspect, only a tit, 1918, by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights I |