Calcutta Review (Volume 2; V. 94-95) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892. Excerpt: ... Art. II--THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS IN THE CALCUTTA ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. A Hand-book of the Management of Animals in Captivity in Lower Bengal. By Ram Bramha Sanyal, Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. Published under the Authority of the Committee for the Management of the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta, Calcutta: Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press, 1892. FROM time immemorial, almost all the nations of the Globe have evinced more or less interest in the collection and exhibition of rare and little-known exotic animals. Among the nations of antiquity, the Romans were the foremost in respect of their passion for making zoological collections. In modern times, every civilised community takes an interest in making such collections, as sources of recreation, as well as instruction, to its members. In some countries of Europe and America the State, or the Sovereign, has for centuries deemed it a part of its duty to organise and maintain State-aided institutions of this kind. The French Government maintains, in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, one of the finest of such collections in existence, and the Government of United Germany supports the Imperial Zoological Gardens in the Thier-Garten at Berlin. Similarly the capitals of other European countries, such as Vienna, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam and Hamburgh, boast of more or less perfect establishments of this kind, organised and maintained at the expense of their respective Governments. Before the establishment of the Zoological Society of London, the English Government had, from very remote times, maintained a collection of living animals, of which the principal attractions were some lions, at the Tower of London, and this national State-maintained institution had been, for centuries, ...