14 THE MASTODON. 



of the world. He regarded it as having been from four to 

 six times the size of the existing elephant ; an estimate he 

 was led to make by supposing that all the teeth, instead 

 of springing up in succession, existed in a continuous row. 



The discovery of these remains not only produced a pro- 

 found impression in Europe, but caused naturalists to en- 

 tertain the fundamental idea that extinct species of animals 

 were exclusively peculiar to the ancient ages of the world. 

 It also quickened an interest in searching for these remains, 

 and when, in 1763, the English became masters of Canada, 

 they sought eagerly to obtain them. In 1767, Crogan, the 

 geographer, having traversed the region of the Ohio, sent 

 many cases of these relics to London, addressing them to 

 different naturalists. About a mile and a half from the 

 Ohio, in the State of Kentucky, he found in a salt-marsh 

 six immense skeletons interred upright. A femoral bone 

 of one of these skeletons weighed one hundred pounds, 

 being four feet and a quarter in length. The reception 

 of these bones in Europe quickened the interest already 

 manifested, and which has never ceased; and so prominent 

 has it ]>een that up to the present time more than forty 

 eminent naturalists have written particularly on the 

 subject. 



Upon the theory advanced by Dr. Hunter that the mas- 

 todon was carnivorous. Goldsmith, in his "Animated Na- 

 ture," concludes his remarks as follows, which are amusing 

 under our present knowledge : "As yet this formidable 

 creature has evaded our search ; and, if indeed, such an 

 animal exists, it is happy for man that it keeps at a dis- 

 tance ; since what ravage might not be expected from a 

 creature, endued with more than the strength of the ele- 

 phant, and all the rapacity of the tiger !" 



Cuvier gave the subject his careful attention, and to 

 him we are indebted for the first elaborate account of the 

 bones of the Mastodon Giganteus, He did not have the ad- 



