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.

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