MAMMOTH IVORY. 



By R. Lydekker 



In spite of all their ingenuity and skill, there are two animal products 

 of hig-h commercial value which our manufacturers have not hitherto 

 imitated with such success as to make the substitutes equivalent in 

 utility and beauty to the originals. These products are elephant 

 ivory and whalebone, and although the imitations in the former case 

 make a much nearer approach to the true article than has been found 

 practicable in the latter, they still leave much to be desired. Conse- 

 quently the demand for natural ivorj^ is not only likely to l)e main- 

 tained on the same level as heretofore, but would undoubtedly increase 

 if an adequate supply were forthcoming. 



True ivor}', to which the name should properly be restricted, is the 

 constituent of the tusks of elephants of different species, and is found 

 in no other animals. In making this statement it must not be assumed 

 that its presence in mastodons is denied, since those extinct animals 

 are nothing more than elephants in a wider sense of the term. From 

 other so-called ivory, such as that of hippopotamus tusks, sperm-whale 

 teeth, and narwhal "horns," elephant ivory is readily distinguished at 

 a glance by the "•engine-turned" pattern — similar to that on the back 

 of a watch case — which it displays in cross section, as maj' be seen by 

 looking at the butt end of the handle of a table knife. And it is prob- 

 ably due to this peculiarity of internal structure that elephant ivoiy 

 displays the elasticity which forms one of its most valuable properties. 



As all the readers of this journal are doubtless aware, there are only 

 two living species of elephants at the present day, namely, the Indian, 

 or, as it might with more propriety be called, Asiatic, and the African. 

 As regards the production of ivory, the latter is, or perhaps was, 

 much the more valuable animal of the two. In the tirst place, till 

 within the last few years, it existed in almost incredible numbers in 

 many parts of its habitat; and in the second place it produced more 

 ivory, animal for animal, this being due to the circumstance that 



' Reprinted from Knowledge, in Scientific American Supplement, No. 1228, July 

 15, 1899. 



361 



