PART IV. 
Non-infective Diseases. 
C H AFTER I. 
GENERAL TREATMENT OF SICKNESS. 
It will be as well to remark here that elephants generally are 
bad patients from three points of view : (a) they are naturally very 
timid suspicious creatures, difficult and often dangerous for strangers 
to handle ; (d) their vital processes are slow, hence diseases run a 
protracted course, take a low form and loss of condition is only 
slowly regained. Their natural timidity in health is often augmented 
by disease ; they very readily lose heart, becoming indifferent or 
oblivious to their surroundings in serious ailments ; (c) the difficulty 
usually encountered in the administration of medicines. 
If successful treatment is to be achieved, these facts must never 
be lost sight of, everything calculated to frighten the patient should 
be as far as possible avoided and every effort to conciliate and gain 
his confidence employed in preference to any method of restraint to 
effect one's purpose. Restraint in any form increases his fears, 
stimulates him to offer resistance and exhausts his energies. For 
this reason it is advised that the details of treatment laid down by 
the person in charge should be carried out under his personal 
supervision through the agency of the oosis alone. 
(r) ResL — Whenever any indication of ill-health, however 
trivial, is observed, the first step in treatment is to rest the animal 
and by rest is meant that except for gentle walking exercise^ if not 
lame, the animal must be tethered and not allowed to travel or 
work on any pretext whatever until such time as the person in 
charge is satisfied that the animal is fit to do so. 
(2) Shelter. — During the hot season a cool and shady standing 
must be selected. In the rains he must be kept out of the wet and 
not exposed to cold winds. Should an animal show signs of chilli- 
ness, some sort of covering should be thrown over him or massage 
may be practised. Burmans, Karens and Shans usually employ this 
latter method, which they perform with their hands and feet and 
which appears to afford the patient comfort. 
1 (3) Food. — All grain ration should be withheld. In most' 
diseases the appetite is partially or wholly lost and it is therefore 
