XI 



THE MASTODON 



" . . . who shall place 

 A limit to the giant's unchained strength ? " 



The name mastodon is given to a number of 

 species of fossil elephants differing from the 

 true elephants, of which the mammoth is an 

 example, in the structure of the teeth. In the 

 mastodons the crown, or grinding face of 

 the tooth, is formed by more or less regular 

 ^-shaped cross ridges, covered with enamel, 

 while in the elephants the enamel takes the 

 form of narrow, pocket-shaped plates, set up- 

 right in the body of the tooth. Moreover, in 

 the mastodons the roots of the teeth are long 

 prongs, while in the elephants the roots are 

 small and irregular. A glance at the cuts will 

 show these distinctions better than they can 

 be explained by words. Back in the past, how- 

 ever, we meet, as we should if there is any truth 



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