THE DISEASES OF ELEPHANTS. 
173 
portion of our vast dominions, and even beyond, my section 
had to embrace the management and medical treatment of all 
the animals utilised in these countries, and I must confess the 
task was no light one. But when I came to treat of India, 
particularly as regards the elephant and camel, I was more 
than astonished to find that we had nothing, or next to 
nothing, to which reliable reference could be made. Nearly 
all the information I required had to be sought for specially 
from that country, and it was not, or could not be, furnished 
from a professional source. 
In all probability the case would have stood very differ¬ 
ently had one or other of the great continental nations been 
as long in possession of India as Britain has. Their well- 
educated and thoroughly-trained veterinary surgeons would 
have vied with each other in exploring and making known 
the pathological treasures of that immense region, and com¬ 
parative pathology would have been enriched with a multi¬ 
tude of valuable facts ; while the knowledge obtained of disease 
would have proved of the greatest moment to the people of 
India, as well as to the governing country. 
France, for instance, in Algeria, has shown what can be 
done in this way. Scarcely had that country been brought 
under the sway of the French than boards of agriculture, 
commissions d'hygiene hippique, &c., began their operations, 
the maladies of the useful animals were closely investigated 
by thoroughly competent men, and the Government did 
everything to encourage the veterinarians who undertook 
these researches. As a consequence, the affections to which 
animals are liable in that climate are, perhaps, as well known 
as those prevalent in France. In proof of this statement I 
have only to point to the numerous monographs in the 
Recueil and other publications, and to the classical work on 
the dromedary, by M. Yallon, published by order of the 
Minister for War, and for which the writer received 1000 
francs from the Government. 
Knowing all this, one may be pardoned for complaining at 
times of our backwardness and apparent apathy—an apathy 
arising not so much from individual as from general causes, 
whose operation has exerted such a baneful interest on our 
professional progress. That the apathy is not entirely indi¬ 
vidual is evidenced by the appearance, at wide intervals, of 
interesting papers, which certainly give us glimpses of the 
value and importance of observations on the diseases of ani¬ 
mals in other countries than our own. Among the most 
noteworthy is the { Essay on the Management of the Ele¬ 
phant, and its Treatment in Ordinary Diseases/ from the 
