VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
AN ESSAY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ELEPHANT, AND 
ITS TREATMENT IN ORDINARY DISEASES. 
Read before the Veterinary Medical Association, London, November, 1872, 
by Lieutenant J. W. Ouchterlony, late Sub-Assistant Commissary 
General, Abyssinian Field Force, in charge of the Elephants. 
The Abyssinian campaign of 1:868 demonstrated tlie extra¬ 
ordinary value of the tame elephant as a beast of burden, as 
under the exceptionally difficult circumstances of that campaign 
this animal was found to be capable of undergoing great hardships 
and vicissitudes of climate, while only receiving ordinary care 
and attention. 
I propose, first, to enter into a brief resume of the structure of the 
animal; next, to speak of its management and treatment under 
disease; and lastly, to offer a few hints as to the points to be 
noted in selecting an elephant for working purposes. 
In respect of the first section I must express my regret that I 
have not had an opportunity of referring to any published work 
to confirm my own observations, which I can only present to you, 
therefore, in rather a crude form. 
The height of a full-grown male or female elephant is nine 
feet, measured at the shoulder; its weight from four and a half 
to five tons. 
The height of an elephant is accurately ascertained by mea¬ 
suring twice round the fore foot. The hind feet are smaller in 
circumference than the fore feet. 
The hide is corrugated and covered with many sharp and coarse 
hairs, the largest being found on the eyelashes and eyebrows and 
at the end of the tail. 
The hide is extremely sensitive, and in most parts is very loosely 
attached, so much so that the animal has the power, when laden 
(no matter how firmly attached his saddle, gear, &c., may be), 
of rolling or moving his carcase underneath his skin, as it were, 
and thus dislodging his load, to the great risk and inconvenience 
of his driver. This capability, I believe, to be quite peculiar to 
the elephant. Along the spine aud over the broad of the back 
the hide is thickest, being three or four inches in substance. It 
is extremely vascular, bleeding freely when punctured, as is the 
case also even when bitten by the mosquito insect, or gnat. 
I am not aware whether the elephant has any Panniculus car- 
nosus ; and it would appear not to be needed, as the trunk of the 
animal can reach almost all parts of the body from before back- 
XLVI. 5 
