ELEPHANTIASIS 



2862 



ELEUSIN1A 



seeds embedded in pulpy flesh. The 

 pulp is eatable, and is made into a 

 jelly; it is also useful in dysentery 

 and diarrhoea. The wood is hard 

 and heavy but not durable. The 

 tree exudes a gum from wounds. 



Elephant Apple. Leaves, flower, 

 and fruit, showing arrangement ot 

 seeds within the fruit 



which forms a constituent of what 

 is known as Indian gum-arabic. 



Elephantiasis OB BARBADOES 

 LEG. Disease characterised by 

 chronic inflammation of the fibrous 

 connective tissue, resulting even- 

 tually in excessive swelling of the 

 leg, scrotum, arm or breast, and 

 less frequently other parts. The 

 condition is due to obstruction of 

 the lymph circulation, most often 

 caused by infection by a parasite 

 worm, the filaria. 



The disease, which was recog- 

 nized in ancient times, probably 

 originated in Asia, and has spread 

 thence to Africa and America. It 

 is now most often seen in India, 

 Ceylon, China, Japan, the Philip- 

 pine Islands, Fiji, Samoa, many 

 parts of Africa, the S. United States, 

 Central America, the West Indies, 

 Brazil, and Peru. Its distribution 

 is influenced by that of mosquitoes, 

 but the exact conditions governing 

 its transmission have not yet been 

 determined. 



Elephantiasis frequently begins 

 with high fever, pain in various 

 parts of the body, and swelling of 

 the extremities. The swelling 

 may abate after the first attack, 

 but in subsequent attacks the limb 

 becomes more and more swollen 

 until eventually it may attain an 

 enormous size. Treatment is not 

 very satisfactory. Castellani and 

 Chalmers state that the best results 

 are obtained by keeping the patient 

 in bed and injecting fibrolysin daily 

 for three to six months. 



Elephantine. Island in the Nile 

 at Assuan, Upper Egypt. Marking 

 the S limit of ancient Nile navi- 

 gation, it contained the Old King- 

 dom frontier station, Abu, or ele- 

 phant town, an entrepot of the Su- 

 danese ivory trade. On the W. 

 Nile bank opposite are rock-hewn 



tombs of Old and Middle Kingdom 

 governors. Under Thothmes III, 

 Rameses II. and other kings, its 

 governor controlled the Assuan 

 granite quarries. During the Per- 

 sian supremacy there was a Jewish 

 garrison, with a temple of Jehovah 

 here. Aramaic papyri, recovered 

 1901 and 1906-8, elucidate 5th cen- 

 tury life. An interesting object 

 is the nilometer, recently re- 

 novated, which dates from the 

 Ptolemaic period. 



Elephant Seal (Macrorhinus). 

 Large species of seal. It is called 

 sea elephant because the nose is 

 prolonged into a short proboscis in 

 the adult male. Large specimens 

 attain a length of 20ft., and the 

 girth is about equal to the length. 



. ' - .- ' ,*::!::: 



Elephant Seal, or Sea Elephant, a large marine animal 

 iound in the Indian and Southern Oceans 



These animals are found only in 

 the Indian and Southern oceans. 



Elephant's-foot, HOTTENTOT 

 BREAD, OR TORTOISE PLANT (Testu- 

 dinaria elephant ipes). Perennial 

 climbing herb of the natural order 

 Dioscoreaceae. It is a native of 

 S. Africa. The huge rootstock 

 (as much as 4 ft. across) is covered 

 with a corky bark, ultimately 





Elephants-toot. Leaves and flowers 

 of the S. Airiuan climber 



cracked into angular protuber- 

 ances. It contains a store of starch, 

 eaten by the Bushmen. The slender 

 stems climb to a height of 30 ft. or 

 40 it., and bear small heart-shaped 

 leaves and sprays of tiny greenish- 

 yellow flowers. 



Elephant Shrew (Macrosce-' 

 lides, long-legged). Name some- 

 times given to the jumping shrew, 

 owing to its long and trunk-like 

 nose. They are small African in- 



sectivores, and have the hind legs 

 BO long in proportion to the body 

 that they look rather like miniature 

 kangaroos. They are nocturnal in 

 habit, feed mainly on insects, and 

 proceed by a series of leaps. 



Elephas Primigenius OR MAM- 

 MOTH. One of the extinct elephants, 

 almost identical with modern ele- 

 phants, but differing in greater de- 

 velopment of curly tusks, and in 

 the woolly hair. It was far more 

 widely distributed than the modern 

 elephant, remains being found in 

 America, the bed of the North 

 Sea, the Thames Valley, within the 

 Arctic Circle, and in the frozen earth 

 of N. Russia. See Mammoth. 



Eletz. Town in S. Russia, in the 

 govt. of Orel. It stands on the 

 Sosna, 105 m. E. 

 1 of Orel, at the 

 junction of several 

 rlys. There are 

 leather, flour, soap, 

 stearin e, and 

 candle factories, 

 tanneries, and iron 

 found ries. C o n - 

 siderable trade is 

 done in grain, 

 cattle, leather, and 

 iron. The chief in- 

 d u s t r y is linen 

 weaving; the 

 women are expert 

 lace makers. Eletz, 

 mentioned in 12th 

 century chronicles, 

 was long the chief 

 town of a principality conquered by 

 Tamerlane. Pop. 58,000. 



Eleusine. Genus of grasses of 

 the natural order Gramineae. 

 Natives of warm regions, they are 

 distinguished 

 by the flower 

 spikes being 

 arranged fin- 

 ger-fashion at 

 the top of the 

 stem. As a 

 genus they are 

 of little im- 

 portance, but 

 E. coracana is 

 grown in Ja- 

 pan and on the Coromandel coast, 

 its large seeds being used as corn. 

 Eleusinia OR ELEUSINIAN MYS- 

 TERIES. Festival held in honour 

 of the nature goddess, Demeter, 

 more especially that held at Eleusis 

 in Attica in Sept. each year. Only 

 those who were properly initiated 

 were allowed to take part in the 

 rites. The precise nature of the 

 rites is not known, as they were 

 never divulged in ancient times, 

 though the festival continued till 

 nearly A.D. 400. They were doubt- 

 less symbolical of the death of Na- 

 ture in autumn and its rebirth in 

 spring. See Demeter; Mystery 



Eleusme, showing the 

 finger-uke flowers 



