On some Quadrupeds supposed to he extinct, 371 



The next fanciful origin was, that these fossil remains were 

 those of an extinct monster, called Mammoth by the native 

 Siberians, their name for the walrus ; but which was trans- 

 ferred and confounded with the bones of whales, elephants, and 

 buffalos, found in that country, and such erroneous opinions 

 will long be entertained in those quarters. 



The diluvian origin was imagined by many to be the true 

 one, but later careful examinations proving that the animals 

 died on the spot where they are found broken, and the bones 

 scattered about, that hypothesis could not in such instances be 

 maintained, and recourse was had to the supposition, that Bri- 

 tain was in former ages a tropical country ; but the mixed fossil 

 remains, being those both of hot and cold climates, and of 

 beasts peculiar only to Africa, or to Asia, this theory appears to 

 be quite as objectionable as the others. The last, and the most 

 specious, of all the hypothetical proofs of the origin is, that 

 the teeth not often corresponding with those of the living 

 specimens which have been seen, they must be the remains of 

 extinct quadrupeds. There are, perhaps, fifty large regions 

 where elephants abound, and the teeth of very few indeed of 

 the animals of those countries have yet been seen. This last 

 appears to be, defective as it is, the strongest objection that can 

 be urged against the historical origin; and the few remarks in 

 this essay will contribute materially to weaken this remaining 

 hypothesis. The reader who feels any interest in zoology will, 

 by their means, be assisted in his endeavours to untie or cut this 

 gordian knot. After he has decided either that these beasts are 

 in existence, or all extinct, 



*• In his reflections, then, what scenes shall strike I 

 Adventures thicken I novelties surprise ! 

 What webs of wonder shall unravel there * !" 



Description of a cheap and portable Instrument for enabling 

 Young People to acquire a knowledge of the Stars, or deter- 

 mine their situation in the Heavens. By S. Lee, Esq. 



There is no science, the study of which tends so much to en- 

 large the mind as Astronomy. It opens to our view the grandest 

 examples of Ahnighty power, wisdom, and beneficence — the 



♦Young. Night VI. 



