The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-11

that sum by two it will give us the hight
of Toms body at its highest point" Ac-
cordiugly we measured Toms greatest
hight, and found that II was exactly feet
and inches, which is Just twice feet and
inches. If you will draw a circle of that
circumference on the floor with chalk you
win find that il occupies about the space
of an ordinary tete-a-tete table When
the elephant stands on his feet his i'm
mense toes expand, and therefore, to OBJ
tain the greatest circumference of his foot
ou'must measure Il when he Is standing.
In India they always determine an ele-
plants hight by taking the circumfer-
ence OF his foot and multiplying 1t by two,
as | have described above.
Female elephants. like the eentler sex
of human kind have much more gentle
and kindly dispositions, as a rule, than
the males. A female elephant is rarely
cross. Nevertheless. though the males are
much more pugnacious, there Is compara-
lively very little quarrelng among them
we think it best, however, not to put the
males together. II is a grand and awful
sight to see two elephants fighting. | re-
member once, through the carelessness of
some OF the attendants, two male ele-
phants of quarrelsome disposition were
placed side by side. Each was held by
heavy iron chain placed around one of his
hind legs and fastened to a strong, heavy
stake driven into the ground to a very
considerable depth. Whether they got
talking politics or religion, / am unable
to say, but all of sudden the attention
of everybody about the place was attract
ed by the most terrific trumpeting and
believing that you ever heard We ran
to where these two elephants We're from
whence the sounds proceeded and there
we saw sight never to be forgotten by
any one who witnessed il. The two ele-
infants ufan1fper IN HID
with their front ones resting on each
other shoulders in the attitude of two
men wrestling Their usually expression
less faces seemed ablaze with fury, and
they were shifting each other on the side
OF their heads with their trunks In a
manner frightful 10 behold meanwhile ut
terlng the most appalling cries that have
ever pierced my ears. If some great pain
ter could have produced this scene upon
canvas or " some great sculptor could
have made II immortal by causing Ii to
live in marble, all art works of ancient
and modern times would have been dwarf
ed into utter insiguifcance and complete
forgetfulness. It was only by beating
them severely with heavy iron crowbars
that We were able to separate them.
The feet of elephants require consIdera-
bic attention. 1t is frequently necessary
to cut their toes and trim the soles of
their feet. This is especially the case
when they stand for long time without
exercise
Besides the ailments / have named ele-
plants also suffer from lung troubles and
rheumatism. Indeed, these are ills TO
which every animal is liable. For rheu-
matsm We give them salicylic acid and
bicarbonatc of potassium. The dose of
salcylic acid for man Is about IS grains,
For an elephant it Is about 4 ounces, or
l2S times greater than that for a human
being. This will give some Idea of the
relative strength Of man and the ele-
plant
If an elephant meets with any external
physical injury, he always seems to un-
derstand your purpose when you do any
thing for his relief, and will remain very
quiet and patient while you are working
upon him. For instance, If he steps upon
a nail and gets 1t into his foot, which Oft
en- happens to elephants marching In cir
Gus parades through towns and cities he
will hold up his foot of his own accord and
stand perfectly still while you pull out
the nail. Frequently he will manifest
gratitude by rubbing his head and trunk
against you.
Elephants have excellent memories and
never forget an injury They are very
cunning and will frequently resort to very
ingenious tricks to obtain revenge In the
Geological Garden in London an elephant
was greatly annoyed by boy who visited
him daily and would hold out his hat
as though containing some dainty, while
the elephant was always disappointed by
finding the hat empty One morning when
the elephant was watered he filled his
mouth and trunk with the fluid, and when
the boy attempted to fool him as usual
several hours later, he elected II all over
the little rogue, drenehing him to the
skin. / once saw an elephant wrap MS
trunk around a soft felt hat which had
been held out to him empty several times
wrest IL from a boys hand, put 1t into
his mouth and swallow it. The boy spent
the rest of that day at the circus bare
headed, and the elephant was none the
worse for the hat.