ELEPHANTIASIS (Barbadoes leg; Boucnemia), is a disease dependent on chronic lymphatic obstruction, and characterized by hypertrophy of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Two distinct forms are known, (1) elephantiasis arabum, due to the development of living parasites, filaria sanguinis hominis (or filaria Bancrofti), and (2) the non-filarial form due to lymphatic obstruction from any other cause whatsoever, as erysipelas, the deposit of tuberculous or cancerous material in the lymphatic glands, phlegmasia dolens (white leg), long-continued eczema, &c. The enlargement is limited to a particular part of the body, generally one, or in rare cases both of the lower limbs, occasionally the scrotum, one of the labiae or the mammary gland; far more rarely the face. An attack is usually ushered in by febrile disturbance (elephantoid fever), the part attacked becoming rapidly swollen, and the skin tense and red as in erysipelas. The subcutaneous tissues become firm, infiltrated and hard, pitting only on considerable pressure. The skin becomes roughened with a network of dilated lymphatics, and vesicles and bullae may form, discharging a chyle-like fluid when broken (lymphorrhoea). In a later stage still the skin may be coarse and wart-like, and there is a great tendency for varicose ulcers to form. At the end of a variable time enlargement ceases to take place, and the disease enters a quiescent state: but recrudescences occur at irregular intervals, always ushered in by elephantoid fever. At the end of some years the attacks of fever cease, and the affected part remains permanently swollen. The only difference in the history of the two forms of the disease lies in the fact that the non-filarial form progresses steadily, until either the underlying condition is cured, or in the case of cancer, &c., brings about a fatal issue. The elephantiasis due to filaria is spread by the agency of mosquitoes, in whose bodies the intermediate stage is passed. The dead mosquito falls upon the water, which thus becomes infected, and hence the ova reach the human stomach. The young worm develops, bores through the gastric mucous membrane and finally becomes lodged in the lymphatics, usually of one or other of the extremities. A large number of embryonic filariae are produced. Some remain in the lymphatic spaces and cause lymphatic obstruction, while others enter the blood stream by night (filaria nocturna), or by day (filaria diurna). It is supposed that a mosquito, biting an infected person, itself becomes infected with the blood it abstracts, and that so a new generation is developed.
Treatment for this condition is unsatisfactory. Occasionally the dilated lymph trunks can be found, and an operation performed to implant them in some vein (lymphangeioplasty). And in some few other cases artificial lymphatics have been made by introducing sterilized silk thread in the subcutaneous tissues of the affected part, and prolonging it into the normal tissues. This operation has been most successful when performed on elephantoid arms dependent on a late stage of cancerous breast. Elevation of the limb and elastic pressure should always be tried, but often amputation has to be resorted to in the end. The disease is totally different from the so-called elephantiasis graecorum or true leprosy, for which see [Leprosy].
ELEPHANT’S-FOOT, the popular name for the plant Testudinaria elephantipes, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. It takes its name from the large tuberous stem, which grows very slowly but often reaches a considerable size, e.g. more than 3 yds. in circumference with a height of nearly 3 ft. above ground. It is rich in starch, whence the name Hottentot bread, and is covered on the outside with thick, hard, corky plates. It develops slender, leafy, climbing shoots which die down each season. It is a member of the monocotyledonous order Dioscoreaceae, climbing plants with slender herbaceous or shrubby shoots, to which belong the yam and the British black bryony, Tamus communis.
ELETS, a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, 122 m. by rail E.S.E. of Orel, on the railway which connects Riga with Tsaritsyn on the lower Volga. Pop. (1883) 36,680; (1900) 38,239. Owing to its advantageous position Elets has grown rapidly. Its merchants buy large quantities of grain, and numerous flour-mills, many of them driven by steam, prepare flour, which is forwarded to Moscow and Riga. The trade in cattle is very important. Elets has the first grain elevator erected in Russia (1887), a railway school, and important tanneries, foundries for cast iron and copper, tallow-melting works, limekilns and brickworks. The cathedral and two monasteries contain venerated historic relics.
Elets is first mentioned in 1147, when it was a fort of Ryazan. The Turkish Polovtsi or Kumans attacked it in the 12th century, and the Mongols destroyed it during their first invasion (1239) and again in 1305. The Tatars plundered it in 1415 and 1450; and it seems to have been completely abandoned in the latter half of the 15th century. Its development dates from the second half of the 17th century, when it became a centre for the trade with south Russia.
ELEUSIS, an ancient Greek city in Attica about 14 m. N.W. of Athens, occupying the eastern part of a rocky ridge close to the shore opposite the island of Salamis. Its fame is due chiefly to its Mysteries, for which see [Mystery]. Tradition carries back the origin of Eleusis to the highest antiquity. In the earlier period of its history it seems to have been an independent rival of Athens, and it was afterwards reckoned one of the twelve Old Attic cities. A considerable portion of its small territory was occupied by the plains of Thria, noticeable for their fertility, though the hopes of the husbandmen were not unfrequently disappointed by the blight of the south wind. To the west was the Πεδίον Ῥάριον or Rharian Plain, where Demeter is said to have sown the first seeds of corn; and on its confines was the field called Orgas, planted with trees consecrated to Demeter and Persephone. The sacred buildings were destroyed by Alaric in A.D. 396, and it is not certain whether they were restored before the extinction of all pagan rites by Theodosius. The present village on the site is of Albanian origin; it is called Lefsina or Lepsina, officially Ἐλευσίς.