312 



THE ELEPHANT. 



[Part VIII. 



stomach were observed at an early period, and even their 

 configuration described, the function of the abnormal 

 portion remained undetermined, and has been only re- 

 cently conjectured. An elephant wliich belonged to 

 Louis XIV. died at Versailles in 1681 at the as-e of seven- 

 teen, and an accoimt of its dissection was pubhshed in the 

 Memoires ])our servir a I'Histoire Naturelle, under the 

 authority of the Academy of Sciences, in which the un- 

 usual appendages of the stomach are pointed out with 

 sufficient particularity, but no suggestion is made as to 

 then- probable uses."^ 



A writer in the Quarterly Review for December 1850, 

 says that " Camper and otlier comparative anatomists 

 have shown that the left, or cardiac end of the stomach 

 m the elephant is adapted, by several wide folds of 



anatomical iuquivies ; " and lie la- 

 ments tliat tLe rapid decomposition 

 of tLie carcase, and other causes, had 

 iutei-posed obstacles to the scrutiny 

 of the subject he was so fortunate as 

 to find access to. 



In 1723 Dr. Wsr. Stxtckxey piib- 

 lished Some Anatomical Ohserva- 

 ti(»is made iqjon the Dissection of an 

 Elephant ; but each of the above es- 

 says is necessarily unsatisfactoiy, and 

 little has since been done to supply 

 their defects. One of the latest and 

 most valuable contributions to the 

 subject, is a paper read before the 

 Iioyal Irish Academy, on the 18th 

 of Feb., 1847, by Professor Hae- 

 EisoK, vrho had the opportimity of 

 dissecting an Indian elephant which 

 died of acute fever ; but the examina- 

 tion, so far as he has made it public, 

 extends only to the cranium, the 

 brain, and the proboscis, the laiynx, 

 ti'achea, and oesophagus. An essen- 

 tial ser\-ice would be rendered to 

 science if some sportsman in Ceylon, 

 or some of the officers coimected with 

 the elephant establishment there, 

 would talce the trouble to forward 

 the carcase of a yoimg one to 

 England in a state fit for dissection. 



Postscriptum. — I am happy to 

 say that whilst the first edition of 



this work was passing through the 

 press, a young elephant, carefully pre- 

 sei-ved in spirits has been obtained in 

 Ceylon, and forwarded to Prof. Owen, 

 of the British Museum, by the joint 

 exertions of M. Diabd and Major 

 Skuhstee. An opportunity' has thus 

 been afforded from whicli science will 

 reap advantage, of devoting a patient 

 attention to the internal structm-e of 

 this interesting animal. 



^ The passage as quoted byBiTFFOX 

 fi"om the Memoires is as follows : — 

 " L'estomac avoit peu de diametre ; il 

 en avoit moins que le colon, car son 

 diametre u'etoit que de quatorze pon- 

 ces dans la partie la plus large ; il 

 avoit trois pieds et demi de longueur : 

 I'orifice superieiu* etoit a-peu-pres 

 aussi eloigne du pylore que du fond 

 du gi-and cid-de-sac qui se temiinoit 

 en une pointe composee de timiques 

 beaucoup plus epaisses que celles du 

 reste de l'estomac ; il y avoit au 

 fond du grand cid-de-sac plusieurs 

 feuiUets ^pais d'lme ligne, larges d'un 

 pouce et demi, et dispost^s irr^guliere- 

 ment ; le reste de parois interieures 

 etoit perce de plusieurs petits ti'ous 

 et par de plus gi-ands qui correspon- 

 doient a des grains glandideux." — 

 BrFFOX, Hist. Nut., vol. xi. p. 109. 



