Sio MEMOIR ON 



No. LXXIV. 



MEMOIR OH the Extraneous Foji/s, denoini/iatedy\d.mrAox\i 

 Boues : principally defgned tofieze, that they are the re- 

 mains of more than one fpecies of non-dejcript Animal. 

 By George Turner, Member of the A. P. S. 

 lionorary and Correfponding Member of the Bath and 

 Weft of England Society, &c. 



Read, July, 'TPHE intercfting remains which form the fub- 

 zvx 1797. J[[_ jedl of this Memoir, have excited various 

 conjedures concerning their nature and origin. By fome 

 tliey were thought to be mineral fubftances ; and by others, 

 animal. The latter opinion foon prevailed, and is now 

 univerfally received. 



But another queftion remained to be anfwered : — To 

 what animal, or clafs, were the bones to be affigned ? 

 Here was a difficulty not fo eafy to overcome. It engaged 

 the attention and drew forth the labours of feveral emi- 

 nent men. Some afcribed them to the elephant ;* others 

 to the hippopotamus ; and others, again, to fome unknown 

 creature, larger than either, and of the carnivorous kind.'f 

 To this animal incognitum common confent has given the 

 name of Mammoth4 



Depofits of his remains are very frequently found in 

 Siberia and other parts of the old world. In North Ame- 

 rica 



* As Sir Hans Sloane, Gmelln, Dauhemon, Buffon, &c. Buffon, however, 

 admits tliat they beipeak an animal whofe cubic vokime muft have ex- 

 ceeded, by five or fix times, that of the elephant. 



+ Dr. Wm. Hunter. Vide Tranf. Roy. Soc. vol. LVIII. p. 42 : alfo 

 " Notes on Virginia." 



X Strahlenberg, in his Hlftorico-Geographical Defcription, obferves, that 

 the Ruffian name is Mammo\h ; wliich is a corruption from Memoth, a word 

 derived from the Arabic, Mebemot, fignifying the fame as the Behemot of Job. 

 This word is applied to any animal of extraordinary bignefs : for inftance, 

 Fyhl is the Arabic appellation for an elephant of ordinary fize ; but when 

 of uncommon magnitude, the adjedive Mehemodi is always added. 



