i66 
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS. 
97-4° F. to about 98° F. or 36-6° C. Anything above this con- 
stitutes fever and a temperature of 100° F. indicates considerable 
fever; a rise of four or five degrees a grave condition. Very high 
temperatures may on rare occasions be met with in heat-stroke, lock 
jaw and in some contagious diseases. Subnormal temperatures are 
also uncommon ; they are generally met with in cases of severe 
haemorrhage and before death. 
Fever and high temperature are usually considered synonymous 
terms, but the latter is only one of the many symptoms connected 
with the complex condition known as fever. It must be distinctly 
understood that fever is not a disease in itself : merely a symptom 
which may arise from manifold conditions. It accompanies almost 
all acute constitutional ailments resulting from whatever cause, 
such as anthrax, haemorrhagic septicaemia and kindred ailments, 
heat-stroke, chills, all forms of blood poisoning, etc., but may also 
attend conditions which are purely local, such as an abscess beneath 
the skin, inflammations, wounds and other injuries. The degree of 
fever in elephants is measured by the insertion of a thermometer 
into the rectum ; but this is as may be imagined sometimes by no 
means the easy operation it is in other animals owing to the extreme 
suspicion and nervousness displayed, in fact it is quite impossible in 
the case of some animals. The method recommended is as follows : 
A large number of elephants are not averse from having some of the 
contents of the rectum evacuated artificially, that is by the oosi or 
mahout inserting his arm previously anointed with some lubricant. 
A good mahout can generally accomplish this and after having 
removed some dung can introduce the thermometer without trouble. 
Another method is to divert suspicion by going through the operation 
of harnessing or loading, and at the same time offer sweetmeats, 
sugarcane, etc. As the anus or fundament is surrounded by much 
loose hanging skin, care must be observed to see that the hand 
carrying the thermometer is inserted well into the rectum where it 
should remain for at least a minute. If the animal be worried and 
excited, the temperature may temporarily be slightly raised. No 
special thermometer is required : an ordinary clinical thermometer 
suffices. Hauptner's * Reform " thermometers are well suited for 
working with elephants. They are excellent and cheap, are 4' 
long, with glass scale encased in tube ; a cord can be attached. 
Care should be taken to shake down the mercurial column to 95° F., 
or if a centigrade thermometer be used, to 35° C. before introducing 
it. It is necessary to wash a thermometer thoroughly, preferably 
* Messrs. Hauptner & Co., Surgical Instrument Makers, N. W. lAiisen- 
Strasse, 53, Berlin. 
