933 On tjpc Mnmihoth. 



I (hall here add, thp.t having faturated the benzoic acid 

 with lime, and deconip'iled the benzoatc thcnce refulthigby 

 the muriatic acid, I cJitained an acid without odour; and 

 that M. Richter obtained the fame inodorous acid by decom- 

 po{in<r the benzoate of potafli by acetite of lead, and then the 

 benzoate of that metal by the fulphuric acid : but of all thefe 

 methods that by fpirit of wine is to be preferred. 



LV. On the Majnvioih. By Governor Pownall. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



I SIR, 

 READ, at Bath, the account which the Philofophical 

 Magazine, publidied bv you, j>;ave the public of the mam- 

 moth. In my wav from Bath to this place, I continued a 

 few davs in London : I went twice to fee the fke'eton of this 

 enormous animal : the firfl time to take a general view of it; 

 .nnd fome davs after, when f had fullv reafoned in my rccol- 

 leclion on the general conllrutlion of it, I went a fecond 

 time to examine it in detail, as far as my fuperficial knowr 

 ledge in comparative anatomy would enable me. 



1 fliall not in this letter go over all the parts to which I 

 g-ave mv attention, but notice onl3- thofe parts on which fome 

 doubts remained with thofe who had not feen it, and which, 

 rie;btly underfto<")d, lead to fome probable conje£liires as to 

 the mode and time of its exiftence in life. I am, Sir, 



Your moll: obedient humble fcrvant, 



Ererton Houfc, J. PoWNALL, 



Jan. I, 1S05. 



DOUBTS were made as to ribs being fet edgeways, fo 

 diflerent from all other animals of our earth ; yet fuch is the 

 fa6t, as appears not only from the inlertion of their heads, 

 but from their curvature ; alfo from their fides, wherein is 

 the groove into which the cartilages, by which they are con- 

 nected, were infertcd. Thele ribs appear to be of the fame 

 form and to be in the fame pofition as the ribs of fiflies, and 

 lo defigned for the fame purpofe, to refift an external com- 

 prelTure of more weight and force than the predure of the 

 atmofphere. 



The printed defcnption left it totally undecided whether 

 this animal had hoofs or toes. On examining the fettingon 

 of the foot, it appears that it hath the eight ufual bone?, in 

 two rows, four in each row, in the carpus, which all animals 

 having digits or toes have: and it hath five toes, whereon, 



a? 



