Unicorn discovered. 145 



by tlie piezometer in the first experiment from the data furnished 

 Ijy Mr. Perkins, has discovered a material error in his computa- 

 tion. Dr. Iloget (in the Annals of Philosophy No. 2) states that 

 the real compression was in fact only ■^Ti-,^-^ or a little less than 

 one half per cent, — a result which agrees very nearly with that 

 of Canton. As deduced from Canton's experiments the height 

 of tiie modulus of elasticity is 750,000 feet*, u-hile those of Mr. 

 Perkins when correctly computed by Dr. Young's method is shown 

 to be 7^3,260 feet ; the difference being less than one himdredth 

 ofthe whole. So near an agreement in experiments conducted by 

 different methods, is very satisfactory, and bears the strongest tes- 

 timony in favour ofthe accuracy of those of Mr. Perkins, in as 

 much as he himself was not aware of that agreement. 



THE UNICORN DISCOVKKED. 



Major Latter, commanding in the Rajah of Sikkim's territories 

 in the hilly country east of Nepaul, has addressed to Adjutant- 

 (ieneral Nicol a letter, in which he states that the Unicorn, so 

 long considered as a fabulous animal, actually exists at this mo- 

 ment in the interior of Thibet, v.'here it is well known to the in- 

 habitants. "This," says the njajor," is a very curious fact, and 

 it may be necessary to mention how the circumstance became 

 known to me. In a Thibetian manuscript containing the names 

 of different animals which I procured the other day from the hills, 

 the Unicorn is classed under the head of those whose hoofs are 

 divided: it is called the one-horned tso'pn. Upon inquiring 

 what kind of animal it was, to our astonishment, tlie })er.son who 

 brought me the maiuiscript described exactly the Unicorn of the 

 ancients : saying, that it was a native of the interior of Thibet, 

 about the size of a tattoo (a horse from twelve to thirteen hands 

 liigh), fierce and extremely wild; seldom, if ever, caught alive, 

 but freijuently shot; and that the flesh was used for food. The 

 j)erson who gave me the information has repeatedly seen these 

 animals, and eaten the flesh of them. They go together in herds 

 like our wild buffaloes, and are very frequently to be met with 

 on the borders of the great desert, about a month's journey from 

 Lassa, in tliat |)art of the country inhabited by the wandering 

 Tartars." — This communication is accompanied by a drawing 

 made by the messenger from recollection : it bears some rescm- 

 blan'-e to a horse, but has cloven hoofs, a long curved horn 

 j;rowing out of the forehead, and a boar-haped tail, like that of 

 the"/'6'rrt monoceros," described by Pliny. From its herding 

 together, as ihe unicorn of the scriptures is said to «io, as well 

 as from the rest of the description, it is evident that it cannot 

 * Vonng's Lictinc.i on Niitural rhilosopliy, i. p. ''JJG. 



Vol.57. Ko, 274. /e^. 1821. T be 



