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Cutting the Tusks, an operation which requires to bo performed 

 either when in large animals they grow inconveniently long, 

 cross cue another so as to impede the free action of the trunk, 

 or when they split up longitudinally. " The opei-ation is done 

 with a common saw kept continually wet ■svith a trickling stream 

 of water. To find the proper place to cut the tusk measure with 

 a bit of twine the distance from the eye to the insertion of the 

 tusk in the lip, this length measured from the latter point along 

 the tusk will give the spot where it should be cut" (Hawkes). This 

 practical rule occasionally proves misleading, for the proportion 

 of tusk to pulp increases with age, and so occasionally the tusk is, 

 especially in young animals, cut off too short — hence Col. Hawkes 

 advises us to " cut off too little rather than too much." By 

 Fracture of the Tuslc also the pulp may be exposed, and as it is 

 full of vessels and nerves such an injury is very painful and the 

 exposed soft parts bleed freely. They must be, as quickly as 

 possible, covered with some agent which will neither prove too 

 stimulating nor allow access of flies. The latter may very 

 seriously aggravate the case by depositing their eggs which 

 develope into maggots and retard healing by causing irrita- 

 tion. Col. Hawkes' treatment with Dikamali (Gardenia lucida) 

 Ointment and binding the injm-ed tooth with a cloth dipped 

 in tar is good and scientific ; Turpentine Ointment may be 

 used instead but is more stimulating. The growth of the 

 Tusk is by gradual converson of the surface of the pulp 

 into tooth substance which gradually prolongs that already 

 formed. Occasionally a bullet lodges in the tooth pulp entering 

 from behind and in course of time it will by this process of 

 growth become embedded in sold ivory — this is no exception 

 to the general process of tooth growth. Small temporary 

 tusks generally precede the permanent ones and are shed 

 between the first and second year when still veiy small. The 

 tusks in addition to being powerful organs of offence and 

 defence are useful in various ways : Priuglo shows how they 

 are by the wild elephant used as crowbars in uprooting 

 trees the succulent rootlets of which may be consumed as food, 

 they are used as spades for obtaining fleshy underground 

 roots of plants, and cases have been recorded of animals 

 helping a comrade out of a hole by means of the tusks. 



