ANIMALS WHO KNOW

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 243, 14 July 1928, Page 26

ANIMALS WHO KNOW

SOME INTERESTING OUTPATIENTS

As a London surgeon was passing Hyde Park Corner the other day he noticed-'a young pigeon Hying low across the road towards the entrance o£ St. George’s Hospital. It alighted with soine difficulty on the stpps of the building, and, when tbe door opened, it was seen to hobble inside. On examination that pigeon was found to be very lame, and at once it was treated as an out-patient of the hospital. • Was it simply a coincidence that this bird should have, found its way into a home of healing, or have the lower orders of creation an intelligence for which they are seldom given credit? asks J. L, in the "Daily Times.”

Not long ago a stray'eat was found (■wandering about the kitchens of a well-known institution. A few days later it was discovered ih the Maternity Ward, where it gave birth to three kittens, two-black and one white. Why did the cat select that ward out of the twenty-four*in the hospital? Not many people realise that our hospitals number a good many animals amongst their patients. Every year on a ’certain day there reaches, my institution a Treasury Note for lOsp which comes from “A Grateful Horse.” The story which underlies that gift is that some time ago that animal was brought to the hospital suffering from toothache. Tbe doctor in charge idf the Casualty Department administered some cocaine, and then extracted the decayed tooth. That corse, through it" master, recognises that kindly act whlqh freed it from pain by sending a gift op the anniversary of its treatment at tin hospital. L . One afternoon a pigeon was seen to alight in the out-patient entrance. It

appeared to be “dead.beat,” and it did not: require any inducement, to coax it inside., A dose of brandy was at once given to it, but a.f. ... minutes later it died. A post-mp.tcm examination was held, and it was found that the'pigeon was- suffering from double pneumonia —a very unusual malady for a bird. Here is another animal story of quite a different kind. In one of the wards of my hospital was a man for whom there waij no-hope. Quietly be was asked for the address of his nearest relative, but sadly he shook his head. “There is nobody who cares whether I live or die,” he murmiAed. And then a flicker of a smile crossed his face. “But there is, something I would like see before I go,” he whispered. "I h-ve got a dog, a wire-haired, terrier. It hits been my only companion for ten long years.” A few hours later that animal was brought into the ward. ■Without any leading it made its way to its master’s bed, and then, as though sensing the worst, it jumped on to the foot of tbe bed. and remained there all through the day, refusing both food atad water. When the patient died, the dog moaned like a human being, and en it had to be forcibly carried out of the ward.

Another lonely patient, this time a woman, expressed a desire to see her parrot before she went into the operating theatre. Her wish was granted, and tbe bird was brought into the ward. It arrived just in time, for the patient had already been placed on the stretcher, and that bird greeted its mistress with a cheerful "Ono, two. three, Polly,can’t say four.” /It made that woman laugh, and who will say that that laugh did not contribute to her cure? .