VI. On the Mode in which Musket-Bullets and other Foreign Bodies become m- 

 closed in the Iwry of the Tusks of the Elephant. By JOHN GOODSIE, Esq. 

 M. W. S. Communicated by Professor Syme. 



(Read 18th January 1841.) 



MUSKET-BULLETS are occasionally found inclosed in ivory, and every anato- 

 mical museum contains specimens of this kind. Why bullets should be so fre- 

 quently met with in this situation, it is not easy to say ; the head of the animal 

 appears to be generally aimed at, and foreign bodies when they enter the tusks, 

 instead of being removed in the usual manner, are retained by the process, an 

 investigation of which is to form the subject of the present paper. 



My attention was directed to this subject by Mr SYME, who submitted to me 

 for examination some highly interesting specimens of bullets in ivory, presented 

 to the Anatomical Museum of the University by Sir JOHN ROBISON. Sir JOHN has 

 also kindly afforded me an opportunity of examining some remarkable examples 

 of wounded ivory, and Sir GEORGE BALLINGALL has directed my attention to pre- 

 parations in his possession, which have satisfied me of the truth of those opinions 

 on the subject, which I shall now have the honour of submitting to the Society.* 



One circumstance was at once detected in all these specimens, and its 

 importance was evident, as affording a clew to the explanation of the mode 

 of inclosure. The circumstance to which I allude is, that in none of the spe- 

 cimens are the bullets or foreign bodies surrounded by regular ivory. They are 

 in every instance inclosed in masses, more or less bulky, of a substance which, 

 although abnormal in the tusk of the elephant, is nevertheless well known to the 

 comparative anatomist, as occupying the interior of the teeth of some of the other 

 mammals, and usually considered to be ossified pulp. It was evident that the pulp 

 had ossified round the bullet, as the first step towards the separation of the latter 

 from it. In one specimen the bullet has become .enveloped in a hollow sphere of 

 this substance, on the surface of which the orifices of medullary canals are situated. 

 In other specimens the irregular ivory, which surrounds the balls, had become 

 smooth on its surface, the medullary canals had disappeared, and the regular 

 ivory had been formed in a continuous layer over the surface of the mass. In 



* We are indebted for the specimens to the liberality of Mr RODGERS of Sheffield, who transmitted 

 to Sir JOHN ROBISON for examination, these as well as many other most remarkable examples of wounded 

 and diseased tusks. 



VOL XV. PART I. C 



