248 
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS. 
intussusception, owing to the large size and great distension of the 
intestines, and the impossibihty of reducing it without using the 
knife, it seems that the chances of preventing a fatal result would 
have been almost nil^ — ''Charing Cross Hospital Gazette.'^ 
Colic. 
Colic is a term applied to pain in the abdomen, commonly called 
gripes, or belly-ache. Two forms are generally recognized, namely 
spasmodic colic and flatulent colic. The first is due to a spasmodic 
contraction of the muscular coat of the bowel ; the second is caused 
by the intestine being distended with gas, due to the fermentation 
of food. 
Colic sometimes is only a symptom of grave trouble to follow. 
Causes, — The most frequent cause of colic is the presence of 
some irritant in the intestinal tract. Overfeeding and underworking 
animals predisposes them to attacks of colic, as they take in more 
nourishment than the system can assimilate. The accumulation 
of fibrous material when elephants are fed on branches of trees. 
Animals in poor condition are often the subjects of colic, which is 
due to want of tone in the digestive system. Eating large quan- 
tities of earth at times causes it ; in such cases the bowels are often 
infested with worms. During the early rains colic is not uncom- 
mon, as elephants eat large quantities of rank, rapid-growing 
fodder, which at the period is unwholesome, as it contains very 
little nourishment and has a tendency to ferment. Dirty and 
unwholesome grain or fodder causing indigestion may induce colic. 
Drinking a large quantity of cold water when the body is heated, 
and permitting an animal to drink too freely when fatigued by a 
long journey also act as causes. Tethered animals exposed to cold 
and wet may be attacked. 
Symptoms. — Restlessness, swaying from side to side, moving 
the legs about, standing in different positions, beating the sides 
with the tail or trunk, yawning, "inserting the trunk in the mouth 
and grinding the teeth. The animal ceases to feed ; lies down 
frequently, but only for a very short time. The pain is intermittent, 
that is it occurs in paroxysms and is at times so intense that the 
patient groans, sinks quietly down very suddenly, lies on his side or 
back kicking, only to get up almost as quickly as he went down. 
There is no fever. In some cases diarrhoea is present, especially in 
those where overfeeding, worms, are the cause ; in other cases the 
bowels are constipated. As a rule urine is not passed. 
