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before the Academy, which may tend to enlarge our knowledge 
of the anatomy of this very interesting animal. 
*«< One of the earliest dissections of the elephant on record 
is that which was made in Dublin, in 1682, by A. Moulin, a 
medical graduate of Trinity College. This animal was destroyed 
by a fire which accidentally occurred in the city. In the 
volumes of the Philosophical Transactions several papers have 
been published on the anatomy of particular parts of this animal. 
Camper’s description and plates have added much to our know- 
ledge; but the most complete and concise description is to be 
found in the Encyclop. Method. vol. iii. p. 173. In Cuvier’s 
system of comparative anatomy several of its peculiarities are 
noticed ; and in his splendid work, Ossemens Fossiles, tom. 1. 
p- 12, its osteology has been minutely and carefully described. 
‘The subject of this examination was an Indian or Asiatic 
elephant, one of the family of the Pachydermata, which may 
be regarded as a distinct genus, under the name of probosci- 
dean, as no other animal possesses the true and perfect pro- 
boscis or trunk. Of this genus there are only two living 
species, the Asiatic and the African, which are distinguished 
by certain well-marked differences : the head of the Asiatic is 
large and oblong, the forehead concave, the external ears 
small, and the molar teeth present undulating transverse 
ridges of enamel, which are the separations of the lamine 
which compose them, worn down by trituration; the head of 
the African is round and smaller, the forehead convex, and the 
ears very large, and the molar teeth are marked with lozenge- 
shaped ridges of enamel. 
‘* The present animal was not full grown; he was supposed 
to be nine or ten years of age, was about six feet high, and 
six and a half from the top of the head to the root of the tail ; 
he had latterly increased considerably in height and size, had 
always enjoyed perfect health until within a few days of his 
death, which was the result of an acute fever. No organic 
disease could be detected in any part of his system. 
‘* The large expanse of forehead, the peculiar expression of 
