CiiAr. II.] 



HABITS WIIEX WILD. 



311 



to sink wells for their own use by scooping out tlie sand 

 to the depth of four or five feet, and leaving a hollow 

 for the percolation of the spring. But as the weight of 

 the elephant would force in the side if left perpendicular, 

 one approach is always formed wdth such a gradient that 

 the water can be reached with his trunk without his dis- 

 turbing' the surroundino- sand. 



I have reason to beUeve, although the fact has not been 

 authoritatively stated by naturahsts, that the stomach 

 of the elephant will be found to include a section analo- 

 gous to that possessed by some of the ruminants, calcu- 

 lated to contain a supply of water as a provision against 

 emergencies. The fact of his being enabled to retahi 

 a quantity of water and discharge it at pleasure has 

 been known to every one observant of the habits of the 

 animal ; but the proboscis has ahvays been supposed to 

 be " his water-reservok," ^ and the theory of an internal 

 receptacle has not been chscussed. The truth is that the 

 anatomy of the elephant is even yet but imperfectly 

 understood^, and, although some pecuharities of his 



^ Beodeeip's Zoological Recrea- 

 tions, p. 259. 



2 For observing the osteology of 

 the elephant, materials are of course 

 abundiUit in the indestiaictible re- 

 mains of the animal : but the study 

 of the intestines, and the dissection 

 of the softer parts by comparative 

 anatomists in Eiu-ope, have })een up 

 to the present time beset by dilH- 

 culties, not alone from the rarity of 

 subjects, but even in cases where 

 elephants have died in these coun- 

 tries, decomposition inteq^oses, and 

 before the thorough examination of 

 80 vast a body can be satisfactorily 

 completed, the great mass falls into 

 putrefaction. 



The principal English authorities 



are An Anatomical Account of the 

 Elephant accidentally harnt in 

 Dublin, by A. MoLrNEUX, a.d. 

 1G1)G ; which is probably a reprint of 

 a letter on the same subject in the 

 library of Trinity College, Dublin, 

 addressed by A. Sloidin, to Sir Wil- 

 liam Petty,' Lond. 1682. There are 

 also some papers commimicated to Sir 

 Hans Sloane, and aftenvards pub- 

 lished in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions of the year 1710, by Dr. P. 

 Blair, who had an opportunity of 

 dissecting an elephant which died at 

 Dmidee in 1708. The latter writer 

 observes that, " notwithstanding the 

 vast interest attaching to the ele- 

 phant in all ages, yet has its body 

 been hitherto very little subjected to 



X 4 



