APPENDIX. 457 



Elephants are very liable to intestinal worms. They generally cure them- 

 selves, when they get very troublesome, by swallowing from ten to twenty 

 pounds of earth. They always select a red-coloured earth for the purpose. In 

 about twelve hours after, purging commences and all the worms come away. 

 When this occurs the hard food should be stopped for a week, fodder only 

 being given ; and a ball of spices should be given every day. Some elephants 

 will not eat earth when they require it ; and they are considered a very bad lot 

 in consequence. I do not know how to treat them for worms. Should an 

 elephant get wounded by a tiger, or otherwise, the places should be well cleaned 

 and kept moistened with cold water. If they get foul apply Holloway's oint- 

 ment. The mahouts have a cruel practice in such cases of heating balls of 

 elephants dung in the fire and splitting them open, applying them hot and hot 

 to the wounds. I believe it to be as useless as it is barbarous. Fomentations 

 and rest are required in the rare event of a strain. 



The above are the commonest cases that will call for treatment by the 

 elephant owner. They seldom prove fatal (excepting Zerbdd), but are very 

 troublesome when not properly attended to. Besides these elephants are subject 

 to several obscure internal diseases, which fortunately are of very rare occur- 

 rence, but when they do occur usually prove fatal from the difficulty of dia- 

 gnosing or treating them. Among them are fever and inflammation of the 

 internal organs. Bleeding can, I believe, be effected from some small arteries 

 behind the ears ; but I have never seen it done. It would probably offer the 

 only chance of a cure in such cases. 



Occasional injuries and complaints will give an opportunity for the display of 

 ingenuity in the application of remedies. One of the most singular operations 

 of dentistry I ever heard of was the removal of a large excrescence on the back 

 tooth of an elephant, which had grown into the poor brute's cheek, and almost 

 prevented his feeding. One of the best mahouts I ever knew volunteered to 

 remove it. He got a good thick log of wood, and made a hole through it large 

 enough for his arm to pass. Outside he covered it all over with nails, leaving 

 about a quarter of an inch of each sticking out of the wood. The elephant was 

 made to lie down and fastened with hobbles, while the log thus prepared was 

 placed in his mouth like a bit, and bound with ropes across his neck. Twenty 

 or thirty persons now sat upon his head and trunk (if these be kept down an 

 elephant cannot rise from his side), and the operator. introduced his arm through 

 the hole and began to saw off the protuberance. He took several hours to effect 

 it, the elephant after awhile lying perfectly still, with the expression of a 

 martyr in his upturned eye. The piece sawn off was as large as one's fist ; and 

 the animal got perfectly well very soon afterwards. 



