Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1913 — HAS 2,000 PATIENTS WHO DON’T PAY [ARTICLE]

HAS 2,000 PATIENTS WHO DON’T PAY

New York Qty is Full j of Excitement DIFFICULT AND VARIED PRACTICE Answer* Hurry CaFls from Bengal Tiger* and Alligator*—Pulls the Teeth the Python—Manicures the Elephant. ■ * The doctor who has perhaps the largest and most difficult and varied practice of any In the city 1* up in the Bronx,' says the New York Sun. He has more than two thousand patients who have come from all parts of the world, and he has never received a fee from one of them. He is Dr. W. Reid Blair, who is responsible for the health of all the animals, reptiles and birds in the New York Zoological Park in Bronx Park. Not until Dr. Blair began to make a systematic and statistical study of diseases, together with their causes, among animals and birds did the managers of other zoos think it worth while to do so, though they were annually losing thousands of dollars worth of valuable animals. The benefits of the study and the work of Dr. Blair soon became apparent, and now the zoological parks of London, Berlin, Washington, Philadelphia and other cities are also pursuing the same line of investigation. Many, theories of long standing have been dispelled by ascertaining the actual facts and the animal death rate has been greatly reduced. Dr. Blair is fond of all his patients and interested In his work. He is a mild looking man, even tempered, a close student, and from his appearance one would not suspect that he constantly associates with the wildest of animals and birds.

His patients never visit his office, but he treats them all at their homes.He finds many stubborn and puzzling cases to deal with, for frequently when his patients need him most they make it hardest for him. Lately some of them have become accustomed to his treatment and take their pills and medicines without Its being necessary to conceal the drugs in their food. The difficulties of this doctor’s practice may be judged when it is taken into consideration that when he receives a midnight call his patient may be a Bengal tiger, an African elephant, a wolf, an ostrich or a deadly snake from the jungle or a hungry alligator from the tropics. Many men would not care to take chances with a lion or a tiger even if the animal were under the influence of ether, for he might wake up, and then there would surely be trouble for some one. Dr. Blair has been treating animals in the park for seven years and has not yet met with a mishap. In many instances he "has had hard fights and only succeeded in accomplishing his purpose with the aid of a dozen strong men. He has pulled the teeth of the twenty-seven foot regal python, operated for appendicitis on an orangoutang, removed an eye from an ostrich, cut a nine pound corn , from the foot of an elephant and performed other difficult operations upon a buffalo, hippopotamus, kangaroo, etc. He is just now curing Gunda, th? elephant, of a skin disease. V Dr. Blair understands his patients as few other people understand animals. He spends all his time among them. He has various kinds of animal babies to take care of.

In the equipment of the Zoological Park is a laboratory and a drug store. There will shortly be added an animal hospital that will contain an operating room and private and public wards, fitted with up to date appliances. When any animal seems to be ill the keeper makes a report to the dootor and a record sheet is filled with the name of the animal, date and diagnosis, daily respiration, pulse and temperature, together with the diet and treatment. In case of a death there follows an autopsy. A record is made of the condition of all the organs. A sample block of each organ is hardened with paraffin and sliced into very thin sections by the microtome. The section is mounted on a glass plate, stained with aniline dyes and studied under the microscope. Thousands of such records are filed away, forming an Invaluable record. There are also kept many miccroscopic samples of the blood of living animals showing diteased states. This year Dr. Blair has been making a special study of pneumonia among his patients, as this is the most deadly disease, especially among the primates and hoofed animals. When a new animal comes to the park the doctor first places it in quarantine until he Is convinced that It Is not suffering from any contagious disease. Altogether Dr. Blair has one of the most interesting practices in the city of New York.