136 On the Mammalian Drift of Wiltshire and its Fossil contents. 



the energies of his subsequent life. Many ladies and gentlemen present 

 have doubtless seen his most interesting museum at Paris. It would 

 appear that the Mammoth formerly ranged over the whole of the 

 Northern Hemisphere, as high up probably as latitude 70°, but its 

 remains have never been found in the Southern Hemisphere or in 

 the Tropics. It was specially provided with protection against the 

 severity of a climate colder than that in which its living representa- 

 tives exist. On this subject Professor Owen says, "Had our knowledge 

 of the Mammoth been restricted as in the case of almost every other 

 extinct animal, to its bones and teeth, it would have been deemed 

 a hazardous speculation to have conceived that the extinct fossil 

 Elephant whose remains are so abundant in the frozen soil of 

 Siberia, had been clad like most existing quadrupeds adapted for 

 such a climate, with a double garment of close fur and coarse hair. 

 The wonderful and unlooked for discovery of an entire Mammoth 

 (among the ice-blocks at the mouth of the river Lena, in Siberia), 

 shewing the Arctic character of its natural clothing, has however 

 settled this question, and proved that like the Rein Deer, and Musk 

 Ox, it was capable of existing in high Northern latitudes." The 

 extraordinary fossil Mammoth referred to, was covered with red- 

 dish icool, interspersed with coarse, long, black hairs. From this 

 peculiarity of its organization, as well as from the structure of its 

 teeth, which are better adapted, on account of the greater closeness 

 of the enamel plates, than those of the recent Elephant for crushing 

 the woody branches of trees, it is inferred that it was quite possible 

 for this animal to have existed as near the pole, as is compatible 

 with the growth of hardy trees and shrubs. 



That the wood of the coniferous trees, (including all the fir tribe 

 which are so common in cold climates,) was the food of the Mam- 

 moth, has been lately proved by a Russian philosopher, who 

 examined with the microscope some fragments, partially masticated, 

 adhering to the teeth of one of the Siberian specimens. Thus one 

 branch of science is continually throwing light upon another. 



One word as to the size of this animal. The old bull Mammoth 

 was at least one third larger in all his dimensions, than the largest 



