354 American Horse. 



on entering the room containing this astonishing assemblage of 

 bones, many of which are of gigantic size. They produce in 

 the beholder the strongest conviction that races of animals for- 

 merly existed on this continent, not only of vast magnitude, but 

 which must also have been very numerous ; and that the masto- 

 don, at least, ranged in herds over probably the entire American 

 continent. 



It is stated by the person who exhibits this collection, that 

 the skull, and tusks which it contains, weigh upwards of five 

 hundred pounds ; that a pair of tusks now lying in the room, 

 and supposed to belong to the same species, weighed six hundred 

 pounds when taken from the ground, and these are nearly per- 

 fect ; and when we regard them as being mei'ely appendages, 

 and sustained by the animal at a great mechanical disadvantage, 

 since they do not, like horns, rest upon the head, but project 

 from it laterally forward, we can easily imagine that it would 

 require the most powerful muscles to sustain and wield the en- 

 tire cranium, tusks, muscles and integuments. We shall be 

 happy to see additional illustrations from the able committee to 

 whom we are indebted for the previous statement of facts. We 

 will, however, venture to mention the c.vtraordinary curvature 

 of the tusks. Those of the elephant, we believe, are always in 

 the form of a bent-bow, but these have almost the shape of a 

 sickle, with the blade curved to one side ; they are sharp and 

 pointed. Many of the molar teeth of the mastodon in this col- 

 lection, as we have often observed elsewhere, are much worn by 

 grinding, and possess a high lustre from the poUsh produced by 

 friction ; they appear to have belonged to animals of very vari- 

 ous ages, and the smaller teeth are generally little or not at all 

 worn ; in some of the teeth, the processes or ridges which are 

 so remarkably prominent in the mastodon, and so remarkably 

 contrasted also in this respect with those of the elephant, are 

 entirely worn away, and are replaced by a deep, egg-shaped ca- 

 vity, of extreme polish, as if it were varnished. 



It is stated that this collection of bones contains upwards of 

 three hundred in number, besides twenty-two tusks, and that it 

 weighs in all Jive thousand three hundred pounds. The bones 

 were obtained by Captain Finnel, at the Big Bone Lick, twenty 

 miles south of Cincinnati, in Kentucky. The deposite was 



