NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
CHRONIC INDIGESTION.
239
constipation treated by enemas or laxatives, or a dose of aloes and
calomel. Starvation for some hours, after which nothing but gruel
for twenty-four hours should be given, when if the dung is natural,
ordinary food may be allowed in small quantities and gradually
increased, carefully watching the excretions. In cases of disorders
of the stomach and intestines and also in debility, molassine meal
is worthy of a trial.
CHRONIC
INDIGESTION.
Causes.—An acute attack which has remained uncured, want
of change of diet, highly stimulating food such as the free use of
mussauls, insufficient exercise, liver disease, intestinal parasites.
In young animals too early removal from the dam, or compelling the
clam to work shortly after the birth of the offspring, or allowing the
calf to suckle when the mother is heated, or at long or irregular
intervals. It is most usually met with in very young or very old
and debilitated animals.
Symptoms.—The animal is dull, appetite poor, thirst great, the
skin harsh and dry ; if worked, he is sluggish ; the membranes of the
mouth pale or yellowish in colour ; if the hand is placed in the
mouth, it will be found to be sticky. The condition of the bowels
vary : in some cases they are constipated and the dung is passed in
small quantities accompanied by a good deal of flatus, the faeces
being hard and dry and consisting mostly of unaltered fibre, or the
bowels may be relaxed, not always diarrhoea, but the evacuations
soft, and a quantity of fluid may be passed at the same time. If the
dung is examined, a good deal of grain may be found in an
unaltered state, clearly proving that digestion is not being properly
performed, or that the food itself is unsuitable and indigestible. The
dung often possesses a sour nasty smell, and varies in colour ; it
may be nearly black, clay blue, or of a peculiar greenish yellow.
Animals suffering from indigestion often have a tendency to eat
earth.
Treatment.—The
teeth should be examined for irregularities and
the mouth for sores. The evacuations must be carefully examined,
as also the food and water-supply. A change of food should be
tried and an extra quantity of salt allowed. If the bowels are
constipated, a mild dose of physic should be given, such as epsom
salts, small doses of aloes and calomel repeated, or laxative powders
such as sulphate of soda 2 ounces, bicarbonate of soda 3 drachms.,
common salt 3 ounces twice a day, or better still, enemas
(Formulas 77 to 80). When diarrhoea is present, unless severe, it
240
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS.
should not be checked, as the bowels may thus be relieved of some
irritating matter. They must be kept regular by gentle laxatives
or enemas and exercise. To restore tone to the digestive organs
vegetable and mineral tonics are indicated, such as the following :—
No. 1.
Nux
vomica...
...
Bicarbonate of soda......
Chiretta, ginger, gentian or aniseed...
1 to 2 drs.
3 drs.
1 oz.
Once or twice daily after food.
No. 2.
Arsenic...
...
Bicarbonate of soda......
Ginger or gentian......
2 to 3 grs.
4 drs.
1 oz.
Once or twice daily for ten days after food.
No. 3.
Powdered nux vomica......
Powdered sulphate of iron......
Powdered chiretta, ginger or aniseed...
1½ drs.
2 drs.
1 oz.
Mix and give for one dose twice a day.
No. 4.
Fenugreek ... ... ...
Aniseed ... ... ...
Carbonate of iron ... ... ...
Black pepper ... ... ...
Ginger ... ... ...
12
ozs.
6 ozs.
2
ozs.
4 ozs.
4 ozs.
To be reduced to powder and well mixed.
Two ounces for a dose twice daily.
No. 5.
Aniseed.........
Gentian.........
Black pepper.........
Green ginger.........
Black salt.........
Jaggery.........
½ oz.
½ oz.
2 drs.
½ oz.
1 oz.
Sufficiency.
Once or twice a day.
(See also Formulae 11 to 14.)
Above all strict attention to diet which should be good, clean
and nutritious ; grain should be withheld for a time. Work should
be stopped and, when possible, the animal given a change to some
grazing where he can choose his fodder and obtain some exercise.
DIARRHŒA.
241
DlARRHŒA.
Definition.—A
condition characterized by increased frequency
in voiding dung, which may be merely softer than normal, or in
severer forms quite liquid, and may be accompanied by griping pains.
Diarrhoea should be regarded as a symptom and not a disease per se.
In the elephant we may for convenience divide diarrhoea into
three forms, namely,—
(a) Ordinary.
(b) Nervous.
(c) Parasitic.
(a) Ordinary : Causes.—A variety of causes tend to produce
this condition which are chiefly dietetic and may arise from the
quality or quantity of food.
Diet—(a) Quality.—Coarse,
indigestible and innutritious, or
succulent, rank, rapid-growing grasses and sedges such as appear
during the early rains, or poisonous plants, damaged or diseased
grain. When grain, flour, etc., are damaged by wet or other cause
and condemned as unfit for human consumption, it is by no means
unusual for some one to propose that it had better be given to
elephants or other animals ; if such food is likely to prove baneful
to the health of men, it is equally likely to provoke illness amongst
animals.
(b) Quantity.—An
excess of food, especially in petted and
pampered animals and those obtaining free access to large quantities
of grain.
Poisons—Administered
wilfully or accidentally, may occasionally
be a cause.
Liver disease.—By producing an excessive flow of bile.
Exposure—To cold and wet.
Water.—Drinking
very cold water or bathing in it when the
animal is heated. Water in certain localities charged with saline
salts may induce an attack.
Diarrhoea is also often a symptom in specific fevers and is
moreover a frequent sequel to constipation, masses of dung collected
in the lower bowel causing irritation with increased secretion from
the bowels ; or it may depend on disorders of the stomach or
bowels.
Treatment:
Preventive.—Lies
in ordinary attention to the diet,
water, shelter. The cause of the" attack must be sought for and
removed.
Curative : Local.—In severe cases enemas should be employed
in conjunction with other methods ; these must be small in bulk in
order that they may be retained (a few quarts), and the most
beneficial are 2 or 3 ounces of tincture of opium added to 3 or 4
quarts of thin starch gruel.
16
242
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS.
General.—Try
to ascertain the cause and if found remove.
In a great many cases diarrhœa is merely an effort of nature to
throw off some offending irritant from the bowels ; it is therefore
clear that in such instances our efforts should be to encourage it
with caution ; solid food must be withheld, especially grain, but a
liberal allowance of rice, flour, barley, or arrowroot gruel sweetened
with a little sugar should be allowed. These tend to soothe the
irritated state of the bowels. Bael fruit when in season is a valuable
adjunct to other forms of treatment, as also are bamboo leaves.
Drinking water, which should be given in tubs, should in the cold
weather have the chill taken off and be allowed in moderation. In
severe attacks stimulants, such as rum, brandy, whisky, should be
given in addition to astringents (Formulae 7 to 10, also see
mussauls).
Perfect quietude is essential and good shelter (a
tarpaulin or rug covering when cold) and a dry standing. When
due to errors in diet, castor oil, one pint or a pint and a quarter, is
the best agent for removing the irritation. In bilious diarrhoea,
when the dung is of a bluish green colour, liver medicines should be
administered (Formulae 35 and 36).
Diarrhoea is at times very violent and requires drugs to aid the
above (Formulae 7 to 10). When the dung is foetid, sulphite or
hyposulphite of soda in 3-oz. doses may be given with advantage
either in drink or in bolus. When once improvement sets in, care
must be taken to allow only small quantities of good clean fodder,
gradually increasing this till the full ration is attained, but always
being guided by the condition of the dung. The animal should be
given gentle exercise, but not permitted to resume work for some
clays after the attack has subsided. This, of course, refers to severe
cases. Enemas are also most useful (Formulas 82 to 84).
(b) Nervous diarrhœa.—This
may be seen in fretful nervous
animals. Any one acquainted with elephants or monkeys is aware
how suspicion, fear, or excitement may suddenly produce an attack
of diarrhoea. The cause being removed, it passes off almost as
suddenly as it has appeared ; hence treatment is not required.
(c) Parasitic diarrhœa—Is described under parasites and no
further mention is needed here.
Diarrhoea in calves—Especially
those of new captures is not
infrequent. Owing to fear and excitement consequent on capture,
the milk of the dams perhaps becomes altered in character, rendering
it difficult of digestion. Again under such circumstances some of
the cows appear to secrete milk irregularly, that is, there is more
milk in the udder at one time than another ; consequently the calves
may get a good supply of milk at one meal and very little at another ;
this invariably means indigestion, which often results in severe
SUPER-PURGATION.
243
diarrhoea. Calves subjected to such treatment present the following
appearance :—They are usually out of condition, the skin is dry,
often shiny and scaly-looking and adheres to the underlying structures ;
in other words, exactly the condition known among horses as " hide-
bound " ; the animals are dull and listless, thirsty, the mouth dry, the
appetite capricious.
Treatment.—It is most difficult to handle some young elephants.
They at times get very hasty in temper, make a terrific noise upsetting
the cows that may be in camp. If they are being hand-fed, attempts
to administer drugs cause them to refuse food. If milk is procurable
it should be given and citrate of soda, two grains to the ounce of
milk, added ; milk so treated forms a curd in the stomach which is
easily digested. Later on rice well boiled or better still broken rice
may be added to the milk with sugar or a little salt. Molassine
meal may also be given.
A mild dose of medicine may be given, such as 4 ounces of
castor oil beaten up with 2 drachms of bicarbonate of soda. If
pain is severe small doses of tincture of opium may afford relief.
SUPER-PURGATION.
Causes.—Excessive purgation, due to an overdose of purgative
medicine, to undue action of an ordinary dose, or to repetition of a
dose at too short an interval, or working an animal too soon after
he has been given physic.
Symptoms.—Severe
gripes, restlessness, weakness, watery
evacuations, the animal refuses food, and the pulse soon becomes
feeble.
Treatment : Preventive.—When
circumstances permit, before
giving physic, any grain ration allowed should be stopped 24 or even
48 hours beforehand, and for some 24 hours previous the ordinary
diet should be reduced ; by so doing it will be found that less
medicine will be required and that it operates better. Care must
always be exercised, some animals being easily and violently purged.
The state of the animal's health must be inquired into, whether he is
at full work and on full feed, whether he has been on green or dry
food, such as straw, boughs of frees, also the usual state of the
bowels. It is usual and a good practice to combine the physic with
some carminative, such as ginger, aniseed, gentian, cardamoms
(Formulæ 11 to 15). In some animals, even though every precaution
is taken, violent purging may ensue. Large quantities of drinking
water must not be allowed after the physic is given, though the
animal should be permitted to take sufficient to allay thirst. If the
244
A
TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS.
water be very cold, the chill should be taken off. The animal should
not be bathed till the effects of the physic have passed off. It often
takes from 16 to 24 hours for the physic to operate, and its action
continues for from 4 to 12 hours at intervals. If a purgative
" hangs fire," a little walking exercise, or a soap-and-water enema,
will hasten its action. Debilitated and otherwise delicate animals
should only receive mild purgatives. Diet should be restricted while
the animal is undergoing physic. Gruel in moderate quantity only
is to be allowed. The animal should be kept quiet and the body
clothed.
Curative—
No. 1.
* Opium ... ... ...
Ginger ... ... ...
Caraway seed ... ... ...
Jaggery ... ... ...
3 drs.
½ oz.
½ oz.
A sufficiency.
Every four hours till relieved.
No. 2.
Tincture of opium......
Sweet spirits of nitre......
Aromatic spirits of ammonia...
3 ozs.
3 ozs.
1½ ozs.
Soaked in bread, mixed with boiled rice and given in straw packets.
OR
No. 3.
* Opium
...
...
...
Chalk
...
...
...
Catechu
...
...
....
3 drs.
2 to 3 ozs.
2 ozs.
Twice daily.
(Also see Formulae 1 to 10 and 82 to 84.)
Alcoholic stimulants, such as brandy, rum, whisky, given in gruel.
Ordinary lime-water mixed with gruel often proves beneficial.
DYSENTERY.
This condition is uncommon and is manifested by intermittent
griping pain accompanied by discharge of liquid dung mixed with
blood and slime.
* Ganja (Indian hemp) in doses of 3 to 4 drachms may be substituted for the
opium.
CONSTIPATION.
245
Causes—Generally due to chill, but may be a sequel of diarrhoea,
indifferent food and water.
Symptoms.—Fever
may or may not be present ; abdominal pain
most noticeable during the act of voiding the dung, which act
may be accompanied by severe straining. The matter passed is
liquid, often foul-smelling, and contains either blood or slime or
both.
Prognosis.—Favourable under early and careful treatment.
Treatment.—As
already noted under diarrhoea, to which may
be added freshly powdered cinnamon in 1-oz. doses, and enemas
containing boracic acid 5 ounces to 4 pints of boiling water, which
must be allowed to cool before use ; a couple of quarts of this should
be injected two or three times a day or oftener.
Solid food should be withheld until there is an improvement.
CONSTIPATION.
Like diarrhoea this is to be regarded as a symptom rather than as
a disease. It is applied to a condition of the bowels in which the
dung is unduly hard, and not as is often supposed total inaction
of the bowels.
Causes.—It is a usual concomitant of fever and may be induced
in a variety of ways ; the quality of the diet, such as an undue
proportion of dry fodder including grain ; the astringent properties
of the barks of many trees which they eat ; certain astringent drugs ;
inactivity of the liver inducing a lack in the secretion of bile ;
habitual excessive food and insufficient exercise are among the more
common causes.
Symptoms—Are seen in the character of the dung, which may
vary from slight undue dryness of its substance, causing some diffi-
culty in evacuating it, to a complete blocking of the alimentary
canal, no dung escaping at all. In addition to being hard it may
be darker coloured and often offensive ; the animal usually has a dry
mouth and at times is very thirsty and generally drowsy.
Treatment : Preventive.—Consists
in avoiding the causes
enumerated above.
Curative : Local.—Enemas (Formulæ 77 to 80).
General.—Consists of internal medication (Formulæ 23 to 28,
and also 40).
When constipation is present in the course of acute fevers,
purgatives should be withheld, but small doses of epsom salts 3 to 4
ounces may be given twice daily : this will be taken if well diluted
when the animal is thirsty.
246
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS.
INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION OR STOPPAGE OF THE BOWELS.
Causes.—Collection of food and blocking of the bowel, or a twist
of the gut.
When elephants are left entirely to their keepers it is not
uncommon for them to feed the animals entirely on branches of trees,
being too lazy to cut grass for them. Some barks are very
astringent and contain a large amount of woody fibre with a small
amount of sap, which is difficult to pass along the bowel, and tends
to collect and eventually produce stoppage.
A surfeit of grain, especially in animals not usually allowed any,
may also provoke this condition.
Symptoms.—Restlessness,
off feed, distended abdomen, severe
continued pain, marked constipation, often a total absence of passage
of wind or dung. If not quickly relieved, the symptoms become
aggravated, distension and pain grow worse, severe fever sets in and
death may ensue rapidly.
Treatment.—Avoid
purgatives which will only aggravate the
condition, also sedatives like opium, ganja, etc. The following may
be tried, namely, extract of belladonna 2 drachms mixed with
jaggery. This may be repeated in four or five hours, or oil of
turpentine 4 ounces beaten up with some bicarbonate of soda,
3 ounces of aromatic spirits of ammonia in a pint of linseed oil.
Some aromatic such as a few drops of oil of aniseed may be added to
mask the taste. Powdered nux vomica in a full dose is recommended
up to one ounce. In less acute cases enemas are most beneficial.
The rectum should be emptied by hand, after which copious enemas
of soap and hot water (at a temperature which will bear the hand
comfortably) to which 2 to 3 ounces of oil of turpentine is added
should be thrown up, and repeated without the turpentine every
hour or so till relieved. If the obstruction is relieved, every care
with regard to food must be observed as laid down under " Severe
diarrhoea."
Cases of intestinal obstruction are always difficult to diagnose,
and are only too often fatal. Twist of the bowel and intussusception,
i.e., a portion of the gut having become telescoped within the
succeeding portion, have been observed.
The following extract
records a case of the latter :—
INTUSSUSCEPTION IN AN ELEPHANT.
"The patient, a male elephant, aged five years, was a passenger
on board the s.s. Pegu which left Rangoon for Liverpool on March
29, 1903.
INTUSSUSCEPTION.
247
" He remained quite well during the first five, days of the voyage.
He then began to show signs of illness. He refused food and
assumed a sullen disposition. There was no movement of the
bowels and no vomiting. A brother passenger to the patient,
taking similar diet, was enjoying his customary good health.
" On the following day the condition of the patient became worse ;
he groaned loudly and seemed to be in much pain. He then lay
down upon the deck, the eyes lost their lustre, the lids dropped, and
he seemed oblivious of all. A low, monotonous whine indicated that
our patient was still suffering, while the lateral decubitus which he
had adopted showed that his general condition was serious—for, as
is well known, an elephant in health rarely, if ever, lies down, and
he even sleeps standing.
" As nothing but a little blood-stained mucus was passed per
rectum, an enema was administered, olei ricini, O j. Most of this
was retained, but it gave no result. A second dose of castor oil
was then given per oram, and was followed by a small fluid motion
with mucus and a few round worms ½ to 1 in. in diameter—probably
the normal denizens of the bowel. The rectal mucosa was slightly
prolapsed, no doubt as a result of the excessive straining. A
rectal examination, the whole arm being introduced, revealed no
obstruction.
" To allay the pain with which the patient seemed now to be
suffering much, a dose of morphia was given by the bowel : liq.
morph. hydrochl., drs. x.; aquam. ad O j. Not more than half of this
was retained.
" Following this the patient was quieter, but as he seemed to be
sinking a stimulant was given: spiritus vini gallici, O j. ;
aquam, ad C ss. He did not rally, however, and death followed
shortly after.
" Post-mortem.—The
abdomen was opened by an incision in the
mid-line. The abdominal wall was extremely tough, and about
1 in. in thickness, although singularly devoid of fat. The intestines
bulged out from the wound, they were much distended.
"After removing the main portion an intussusception was found
a few yards from the anus. It formed a tense cylindrical mass
about 3 ft. in length and quite a foot in diameter.
"On opening the intussusception the walls of the gut were found
to be swollen with oedema to a thickness of 2 in. Above the intus-
susception was a large mass of faeces about the size of a cocoanut.
This was soft and friable, and, therefore, presumably not the cause
of the condition.
" In looking back upon the case, the possibility of operating
occurs to one. But having regard to the difficulty in finding the
248
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS.
intussusception, owing to the large size and great distension of the
intestines, and the impossibility 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.
FLATULENT COLIC.
249
Treatment.—Copious
enemas of soap and warm water (also
see Formula 81) fomentations to the belly, to which turpentine
may be added. When severe, fomentations are out of the question,
mustard mixed with warm water should be applied, or liniment
rubbed over the belly.
Opium
...
...
...
Powdered nutmeg
...
...
Aniseed
...
...
...
Rum
...
...
...
Jaggery .........
4 drs. of each.
8 ozs.
A sufficiency.
Repeat in four hours if necessary, reducing the opium to 2½ drs.
OR
Opium
......
...
Ginger
......
Jaggery......
4 drs.
1 oz.
3 ozs.
Repeated in four hours if necessary.
OR
Chloral hydrate
..
Aniseed
......
...
1½ ozs.
1 oz.
in gruel.
OR
Tincture of opium
...
...
Sweet spirits of nitre
...
...
3 ozs.
3 ozs.
Soaked in bread, or mixed with boiled rice, repeated
if necessary in four hours.
Ganja in doses of 3 to 4 drachms may be substituted for the opium.
(Also see Formulae 1 to 6 and mussauls.)
When the acute symptoms have subsided, earlier if possible, it is
advisable to give a dose of physic such as castor-oil, to relieve the
bowels.
Solid food should be withheld for 24 hours and only good gruel
allowed. If attacks recur care should be taken to examine food and
water-supply.
FLATULENT COLIC.
Symptoms.—In
this form there are colicky pains, but as a rule
they are not so acute as in the spasmodic form. The belly may be
greatly distended ; the bowels are generally constipated ; the dung
may be dry and hard, or soft and pale in colour ; there is loss of
appetite, dulness and listlessness ; trunk contracted. Severe cases
are very serious as death may result. Flatulent colic may also be
a symptom of other serious abdominal affections.