The opening of Foreword
BY
CHARLES B. PENROSE
The work on which this book is based was begun in November, 1901. From that date, systematic autopsies were made on animals dying in the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. Previously autopsies had been made very rarely and only on animals of especial importance and interest. Pathological conditions were occasionally noted in animals subjected to anatomical study. The work was strictly volunteer, for there was no one on whom the Society had the right to call. Dr. Henry C. Chapman, a former Director, whose interest was in physiology and comparative anatomy, made nearly all the autopsies that were made before the beginning of the present work. In the annual reports from the foundation of the Garden in 1872, very few such examinations are recorded. In some reports there are lists of important deaths, but no record of the cause of death.