PROBOSCIDEA. a77 
ORDER PROBOSCIDEA. 
Ir seems a strange jump from the order which contains the smallest 
mammal, the little harvest mouse, to that which contains the gigantic 
elephant—a step from the ridiculous to the sublime; yet there are points 
of affinity between the little mouse and the giant tusker to which I 
will allude further on, and which bring together these two unequal links 
in the great chain of nature. The order Proboscidea, or animals whose 
noses are prolonged into a flexible trunk, consists of one genus contain- 
ing two living species only—the Indian and African Elephants. To 
this in the fossil world are added two more genera—the Mastodon and 
Dinotherium. 
The elephant is one of the oldest known of animals. Frequent 
mention is made in the Scriptures and ancient writings of the use of 
ivory. In the First Book of Kings and the Second of Chronicles, it is 
mentioned how Solomon’s ships brought every three years from Tarshish 
gold and silver and ivory (or elephants’ teeth) apes and peacocks. In 
the Apocrypha the animal itself, and its use in war, is mentioned; in 
the old Sanscrit writings it frequently appears. Aristotle and Pliny 
were firm believers in the superstition which prevailed, even to more 
recent times, that it had no joints. 
‘¢ The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy ; 
His legs are for necessity, not flexure ”— 
says Shakespeare. Even down to the last century did this notion 
prevail, so little did people know of this animal. The supposition 
that he slept leaning against a tree is to be traced in Thomson’s 
‘Seasons ’— 
“‘Or where the Ganges rolls his sacred waves 
Leans the huge elephant.” 
Again, Montgomery says— 
‘Beneath the palm which he was wont to make 
His prop in slumber.” 
At a very early period elephants were used in war, not only by the 
Indian but the African nations. In the first Punic war (B.c. 264-241) 
they were used considerably by the Carthaginians, and in the second 
Punic war Hannibal carried thirty-seven of them across the Alps. In 
the wars of the Moghuls they were used extensively. The domestication 
of the African elephant has now entirely ceased ; there is however no 
reason why this noble animal should not be made as useful as its Indian 
brother ; it is a bigger animal, and as tractable, judging from the speci- 
mens in menageries. It was trained in the time of the Romans for 
