C5S On the DISCOVERY oi-- 



animals." If the bones of the megalonyx be afcribed to 

 -the Wbn, they mufl e'eriainly liave been of a Hon of more 

 than three times the voUiiTie of the African. 1. deiivered 

 to M. de Buffon the fKeleton of our palmated elk, called 

 orignal or moofe, 7 feet high over the fhoulders, he is - 

 often confidcrably higher, i cannot find that the Euro- 

 pean elk is more than two thirds ot that height : confe- 

 qucntly not one third of the bulk ot the American. He* 

 acknowledges the palmated deer (daim) of ^-America to be 

 larger and ftronger than that of the Old World. Hc-f- 

 confiders the round horned deer of thefe States, and of 

 Louifiana as the roe, and admits they are of three times 

 his fize. Are we then from all this to draw a conclu- 

 iion, the reverfe of that of M. de Buffon. That nature, 

 has formed the lartrer animals of America, like its lakes, 

 its rivere, and mountains, on a greater and prouder fcale 

 than in the other hemifphere ? Not at all, we are to con- 

 clude that fhe has formed fome things large and fome 

 things fmall, on both fides of the earth for reafons "which 

 file has not enabled us to penetrate ; and that w^e ought 

 not to fliut our eyes upon one half of her fads, and build 

 fyftems on the other half. 



To return to our great-claw ; I depofit his bones with 

 the Philofophical Society, as mtII in evidence of their 

 exigence and of their dimenfions, as for their fafe -keep- 

 ing ; and I lliall think it my duty to do the fame by fuch 

 others as I may be fortunate enough to obtain the reco- 

 very of hereafter. 



TH: JEFFERSON. 



Monticello, Feb. lolh, ^797- 



* BufFon, xxix. 245. -|- Ibid. xii. 91. 92. xxix. 245. Vide Suppl. 2ci. 



P. s. 



