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fetters, the best mode to recapture the animal is to take a dozen 

 plantains which have been prepared with one drachm of opium 

 each — throw these to the animal from a Hafe distance, and usually 

 it will partake of them readily, and after having consumed from 

 four to eight plantains (in projportion to the size of the animal) it 

 soon becomes giddy, when the keeper can safely walk up and 

 secure it." lu view of the serious loss of services and danger from 

 male elephants being liable to must, government now purchases 

 only females for its use, and of the males now in the Service when 

 they are in this state the ratib is to be reduced one-half, and green 

 fodder given in compensation (Comt. Code, Para. 1771). As males 

 are so much more strong and imposing than females, and as the 

 elephant is used by us mainly for purposes of show or where great 

 bulkand enormous strength is required, the liability to 'must' consi- 

 derably lessens the total value of the elephant. In view of this im- 

 portant matter various Veterinary Officers, but especially I. V. S. 

 Hallen, Superintendent of Horse Breeding Operations, have tried 

 to prevent Musthee by Castration, or S paying as it ought rather 

 to be termed, however the intra-abdominal position of the testes 

 and the size of the animal render this a very formidable operation 

 and very frequently quite impracticable. Anatomical examination 

 has shown that it is possible to reach the testes through an inci- 

 sion in the abdominal wall but the operation must be performed 

 on both sides. The hughbulk of the animal necessitates his being 

 drawn into a hole dug in the ground after being thrown and pro- 

 perly secured. Then it is found that an incision in the usual position 

 is of little use, for, the animal being "well ribbed up," the operator's 

 arm is numbed by the severe compression it suffers between the 

 last rib aud the hip bone. An incision lower down is not of much 

 value because the testis is difficult to reach and the arm intro- 

 duced through the wound is so numbed by the pressure of the 

 powerful abdominal muscles as to prove unable to draw the testis 

 down from its superior attachments even if a fair gi-asp be 

 obtained (which is not generally the case). Thus it is evident that 

 all attempts to perform this operation without chloroform and the 

 instrument known as the Ecrascur must be useless. Whether it 

 can be done with these aids remains to be seen — possibly division 

 of the nerves of the penis might have the desired effect; castra- 

 tion of recently captured young males as a routine procedure at 



