Notices of Big-bone Lick. 205 



with the most brilliant success, there is not a single Public Observa- 

 tory in the United States of America : and whilst geology and other 

 branches of natural history, are cherished and taught in every 

 public institution, devoted to education, in Europe ; there is 

 not, as far as we are informed— with one exception— an officiating 

 professor of these attractive and useful brandies of knowledge, 

 in any of the universities or colleges of this country. 



( To be continued.) 



NOTICES OF BIG-BONE LICK, 

 Including the various explorations that have been made there, the animals to which 

 the remains belong, and the quantity that has been found of each ; J^Hh a particu- 

 lar account of the great collection of bones discovered in September, lS.iU. Oy 

 William Cooper, member of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Zoological Society ot 

 London, &c. 



(^Continued from page 174.) 



The six species of animals, of whose remains the preceding 

 catalogue has been given, comprise all of those, found at Big-bone 

 Lick, that in my judgment have a well established claim to be 

 considered fossil, either as being now extinct, entirely, or under 

 the same latitudes, or because they are found associated with the 

 extinct species. 



How many individuals there must have been, to have furnish- 

 ed these remains, is an inquiry, not only curious in itself, but 

 which bears upon some speculations regarding the phenomena of 

 their accumulation. Although it can no longer be precisely de- 

 termined, some approximation may still be made. With this 

 view, I have attempted an estimate from the following data : 



The total number of grinders possessed by the mastodon from 

 infancy to old age, as I have elsewhere shown, was twenty-four ; 

 of which there were sixteen with three or more pairs of points. 



The greatest number of those existing together in the head, 

 and, though not in use, sufficiently ossified to be preserved fossil, 

 was twelve. 



The number existing and in use at the maturity of the species, 

 was eight. 



At last in old age there remained but four, as in the Ele- 

 phant. 



Supposing each individual to have been of mature age, neither 



