80 



and trunk seventeen feet. In length and massiveness it surpasses 

 all other proboscidian pachyderms, though some of the elephants 

 in Asia attain to a greater elevation. 



The task which he imposed upon himself after he passed his 

 seventieth year, was the description of this invaluable skeleton. 

 "We cannot but admire the decision which he manifested in enter- 

 ing upon such a labor, as well as the zeal and perseverance 

 with which he executed it. In order to make his description as 

 complete as possible, he collected together a vast amount of illus- 

 trative material in the form of crania, teeth, bones, &c., and inci- 

 dentally the remains of many other species of animals, forming one 

 of the most valuable private collections ever brought together in 

 this country. The remains of these gigantic representatives of 

 a former geological age literally filled his house from basement to 

 attic. The bones of Dinotheriums, Zeuglodons, Elephants, and 

 Mastodons, the eggs of extinct gigantic birds, covered every avail- 

 able spot on his tables, and huge slabs impressed with the feet 

 of colossal birds and reptiles from the Connecticut Sandstones 

 rested aslant against the walls. These remains were the first 

 objects on which his eyes rested as he awoke in the morning, and 

 we can easily conceive that they were among the last to flit 

 across his imagination as he retired to rest. At home or abroad, 

 they were uppermost in his thoughts. To procure additional 

 knowledge for their elucidation, he visited personally the more 

 important collections in this country, and even made a voyage 

 across the ocean. He might truly say of his investigations, 

 " Hebc studia senectutem delectant, secundas res ornant, ac sola- 

 tium prfebent ; delectant domi, perigrinantur, rusticantur, pernoc- 

 tant nobiscum." 



In 1852, the work on which he had labored so assiduously, 

 forming a large quarto volume, was completed and published. 

 Dr. Warren was a descriptive anatomist ; the constitution of his 

 mind made him such, and the constant training in the lecture- 

 room, through a long series of years, confirmed him in these 

 tendencies. We can therefore readily perceive that his primary 

 object would be to make a descriptive anatomy of the skeleton of 

 the Mastodon. Without going into any thing like an analysis of 

 this volume, the general subjects treated of are as follows: — 



The first part is devoted to a description of each of the indi- 

 vidual bones in succession, giving for the first time the entire 



