88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



made by the natives into whips, which, I believe, are used to beat 

 delinquents in Egypt ; and I am told that they are exceedingly for- 

 midable weapons. To make the whip, the skin is cut into triangular 

 slips, about five or six feet long, one end being pointed, the other 

 broad ; it is then coiled upon itself, and afterward dried in the sun, 

 and, when finished, is light, dry, and elastic. The teeth of the hippo- 

 potamus are also of commercial value. Their structure is very pecul- 

 iar. I have a tooth now before ; it is hollow at one end, like the tusk 

 of an elephant. When the animal was alive, this hollow was filled 

 with soft pulp. The tooth is always growing forward as the pulp 

 solidifies behind. The reader can easily see how this is, by examining 

 the front tooth of the lower jaw of the next boiled rabbit he has for 

 dinner. The outside of the tooth of the hippo is formed of a glass- 

 like, hard enamel; it is exceedingly dense, hard, and flint-like. I have 

 just taken down my old regimental sword, and find that, by striking 

 it at the proper angle, a shower of sparks fly away from the tooth, like 

 the sparks from a boy's " fire-devil " made in form of a pyramid with 

 wet gunpowder. The teeth of the hippopotami, as in the rabbit, are 

 sometimes liable to deformity. In the College of Surgeons there is 

 the tooth of a hippopotamus which has grown nearly into the form of 

 a circle. These teeth are, I believe, much sought after by dentists 

 for making artificial teeth; and when a piece can be had of such a 

 loi. i as that the teeth can be worked in enamel, they preserve their 

 color almost as in the natural teeth. The price of hippopotami-teeth 

 is about thirty shillings a pound. Artificial teeth are also made from 

 the tusks of the walrus, the sword of the narwhal, and also the teeth 

 of the cachelot whale. 



Not long ago, the old male hippopotamus at the Gardens suffered 

 much from a decayed tooth. In former times he would have been 

 shot, as was poor " Chunee," the elephant at Exeter 'Change. Mr. 

 Bartlett, superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, with his ever-ready 

 talent in meeting all emergencies, determined to pull out the tooth. 

 He ordered the blacksmith to make a pair of " tooth-forceps," and a 

 tremendous pair they were. The " bite" of the forceps just fitted the 

 tooth of the hippo. By skilful management, Bartlett managed to seize 

 Master Hippo's tooth as he put his head through the bars. The hippo, 

 roaring frightfully, pulled one way, Bartlett and the keepers pulled 

 the other, and at last out came the tooth, and Hippo soon got well 

 again. 



No animal in this world is made without a purpose, and we always 

 find that the structure of an animal is admirably adapted to its mode 

 of life. I believe that one of the principal duties which the elephant 

 and rhinoceros unconsciously perform, is to cut paths through the 

 dense forests and jungles in which they live. The home of the hippo- 

 potamus is among the aquatic forests at the bottoms of large rivers 

 such as the Upper Nile. It is probable that, in the days of Moses, these 



