288 



THE ELEPHAXT. 



[Part VIII. 



of directing the range of liis eye much above the level of 

 his heacl.^ 



The elephant's small range of vision is sufficient to 

 account for his excessive caution, his alarm at unusual 

 noises, and the timidity and panic exhibited by him at 

 trivial objects and incidents wliich, imperfectly discerned, 

 excite his suspicions for his safety.^ In 1841 an officer^ 

 was chased by an elephant which he had shghtly 

 wounded ; and which seizing him in the dry bed of a 

 river, had its fore-foot already raised to crush him ; but 

 the animal's forehead being caught at the instant by the 

 tendrils of a climbing plant which had suspended itself 

 from the branches above, it suddenly tm-ned and fled ; 

 lea\dng him badly hurt, but with no hmb broken. I have 

 heard many similar instances, equally well attested, of this 

 pecuharity in the elephant. 



^ After writing tlie above, I was 

 pemiitted by the late Dr. H-i.KRisox, 

 of Dublin, to see some accui-ate 

 drawings of the brain of an elephant, 

 which he had the opportunity of 

 dissecting in 1847, and on looking to 



that of the base, I have found a re- 

 marliable verification of the informa- 

 tion which I collected in Cejdon. 



The small figm-e A is the ganglion 

 of the fifth nerve, showing the small 

 motor and lai'ge sensitive poi-tion. 



The olfactory lobes, from which 

 the olfactoiy nerves proceed, are 

 large, whilst the optic and 7ni(scular 

 nerves of the orbit arc sinf/iilarli/ 

 small for so vast an animal ; and one 

 is immediately strucli by the prodi- 

 gious size of the filth nerve, which 

 supplies the proboscis with its ex- 

 quisite sensibility, as well as by the 

 gi'eat size of the motor portion of 



Olfactory lobes — large. 



Optic nerve — small. 



Third pair — small. 



Fourth pair — small. 



The two poTtions of the fifth pair, the sensitive 



portion very large, for the proboscis. 

 Sixth pair — small. 

 Seventh pair — portio dura, or raotor,very large 



for proboscis. 



the seventh, which supplies the same 

 organ with its power of movement 

 and action. 



* Menageries, Sfc, " Tlie Ele- 

 phant," p. 27. 



* Major lIoGERS. An accoimt of 

 this singular adventure will be foimd 

 in the Cei/lon 3Iisccllani/ for 1842, 

 vol. i. p. 221. 



