under consideration has Komewhat impeded progress as rendering 

 ])ost-niorteni examinations, surgical operations, and medical treat- 

 ment more difficult than in tlie smaller animals. It also has 

 impressed the generality of mankind with a dread of enquiry 

 about, and iutci'fcrence with, so fonnidablo and extraordinary an 

 animal. As we have elsewhere said, we believe many observations 

 and records of cases of disease of elephants are stored up in the 

 note books of Army Veterinary Surgeons, who have served or 

 are serving in India, and it is to be hoped these and any official 

 Reports on this subject will be made public. The largeness of 

 the patient has, also, necessarily somewhat magnified the size of 

 surgical implements over the ordinary ; but we are of opinion, to an 

 unnecessary degree the bulk and amount of doses and ingre- 

 dients. 



In our chapter on Therapeutics, we shall deal with this 

 question, but here we may remark that in reading GUcbrist's 

 account of mussauls as recommended by the mahouts, we are 

 reminded of the treatment of the horse in England in the time 

 of Gervaise Markham, as given in his " Way to get Wealth," 

 and of the barber surgeons of the middle ages. The processes 

 of prepaiTition are most elaborate ; ingredients of the most 

 diverse actions, sometimes numbering eighteen to twenty, 

 are taken, prepared, and compounded with the utmost exact- 

 ness. Sometimes this can only be done on a holy day, or they 

 require to be buried near the grave of an elephant and left 

 tkere for a certain time ! The receipts can be ascei-tained only 

 by the greatest pertinacity in enquiry. An important ingre- 

 dient is disemboweled frogs with their legs cut ofi ! A suspi- 

 ciously large number of the ingredients mentioned by the 

 mahout are useful for his own curries. 



We are told thai the use of cathartics in the treatment of 

 diseases of elephants is unknown to the natives, and that their 

 medical theory is, " Treatment must be directed either to in- 

 crease or decrease the body heat." Their experience has rightly 

 led them to adopt the stimulant plan of treatment in most cases, 

 although Gilchrist, in 1841, introduced free bleeding and the 

 use of cathartics, no matter whether for Zerbad or for Inflam- 

 mation of the Lungs, and suggested removal of blood to the 

 extent of one to one-and-a-half or two gallons, to be repeated 



