729 



MASTODON. 



MASTODON. 



730 



The remains of the Great Mastodon (Mastodon yiayanteus, Cuvier), 

 appear to have been the first that attracted attention. These occurred 

 in considerable abundance in North America. They gave rise to 

 much speculation and much erroneous opinion at first ; for though 

 the form and size of the molar teeth forbade the inference that they 

 could have belonged to any of the large existing animals, the formidable 

 appearance of the pointed conical tuberosities of the crowns led to 

 conclusions directly the reverse of truth, as we shall presently see. 

 Daubenton, indeed, at first thought that some of these teeth belonged 

 to the Hippopotamus, but he soon perceived that they must have 

 formed part of an animal which had no recent analogue, and Buffon 

 announced that the whole evidence afforded by the remains led to the 

 belief that this ancient species, which ought to be regarded as the 

 first and the largest of terrestrial animals, existed only in the first 

 ags of the world (n'a subsiste que dans les premiers temps), and 

 never had come down to our time. This opinion of Buffon did not 

 extend beyond the larger molar teeth, and he still regarded the 

 middling-sized and worn teeth as those of the Hippopotamus; he 

 also followed Daubenton in considering the femur found with the 

 teeth as that of an elephant, though Dr. (William) Hunter had pointed 

 out the differences between it and the same bone in the elephant, as 

 well as the distinctions existing in the teeth and lower jaw. (' Phil. 

 Trans.,' voL Iviii.). But while William Hunter did this good service, 

 he introduced no small confusion and error. He had heard of the 

 Siberian Mammoth, and not having seen the bones of that animal, he 

 immediately concluded that it was identical with the North American 

 fossil, and gave the 

 name to the latter, a 

 nomenclature which 

 was for some time 

 adhered to both uy 

 the Anglo-Americans 

 and the English. 

 The skeleton of the 

 Great Mastodon was 

 exhibited at London 

 and Bristol as the 

 Mammoth, and ac- 

 counts of it under 

 the same name were 

 published in London 

 in 1802 and 1803. 

 Nor was this the 

 only error of which 

 William Hunter was 

 the parent, for not- 

 withstanding the re- 

 jection of such an 

 opinion by Camper, 

 the former declared 

 that, from the struc- 

 ture of the teeth, 

 the Mammoth, as he 

 termed it, was car- 

 nivorous ; and men, 

 ever prone to catch 

 at the wild and 

 wonderful, greedily 

 adopted this marvel- 

 lous view.and named 



Skeleton of llaslodon giganteus 



the gigantic beast the Carnivorous Elephant. We well remember in our 

 early youth hearing the speculations of some as to the sort of prey ou 

 which the monster lived, and as to the great services that its enormous 

 tusks, which in the skeleto^ above noticed were placed in an inverted 

 position, with the curvature downwards, must have rendered when 

 the animal was on its predatory excursions. The confusion created 

 by the application of the same name Mammoth to two different genera 

 was great, and for a long time almost inextricable, notwithstanding 

 the endeavours of Pallas, who clearly refuted the supposed identity 

 of the Siberian and American animals, by showing that the Siberian 

 Mammoth is a true elephant. Cuvier at once dissipated the clouds 

 that had gathered over the subject, and while he clearly pointed out the 

 osteological differences between the two genera, gave to the supposed 

 Mammoth of America the appropriate name of Mastodon (Mannt, a 

 teat ; oJof/s, a tooth). 



The first notice of the teeth and bones of this extinct genus of 

 Pachyderms appears to be in 'Phil. Trans.' (vol. xxix., 1714), a 

 century and a quarter ago; and it is not uninstructive to observe 

 what rapid strides natural science has made since that time, when 

 the Royal Society of London published in their ' Transactions ' Dr. 

 Mather's letter to Dr. Woodward, in which the former gives au 

 account of a large work in manuscript in two vols. folio, but does 

 not name the author. Dr. Mather recommends this work, which 

 appears to have been a commentary on the Bible, with large philo- 

 sophical remarks, " to the patronage of some generous Mecccuas, to 

 promote the publication of it," and transcribes, as a specimen, a 

 passage announcing the discovery, in 1705, of enormous bones and 

 teeth at Albany in New England, aa the bones of a giant, appealing 



to them as a confirmation of the text in Genesis (vi. 4); another 

 example, if any were wanting, of the folly and danger of mixing up 

 religious questions with scientific inquiries. Portions of remains 

 were sent to France and England at different intervals, and elicited 

 the observations of European zoologists, whilst in America materials 

 were collected for forming two complete skeletons by the zealous 

 industry of Mr. Peale. 



Of these two skeletons one was placed in the museum of Mr. Charles 

 Wilson Peale in Philadelphia, and the other was exhibited in London 

 and Bristol by his son Mr. Rembrandt Peale, who published two 

 accounts of it under the name of the Mammoth above alluded to. 



One of the principal deposits of Mastodon bones appears to have 

 been the Big-Bone Lick in the north part of Kentucky, near the Ohio, 

 whence the Mastodon has been called ' the animal of the Ohio.' None 

 of the remains have the appearance of having been rolled, but seem 

 to have been unmoved since the death of the animal ; and it is worthy 

 of remark that those which were found at the river of the Great 

 Osages, which runs into the Missouri a little above its confluence with 

 the Mississippi, were in a vertical position, as if the- animals had been 

 bogged or buried in the mud. [MEUATHERIID.E.] 



The traditions which were rife among the Red Men concerning 

 this gigantic form and its destruction must not be passed over in 

 silence. M. Fabri, a French officer, informed Buffon that the savages 

 regarded these bones scattered in various parts of Canada and Louisiana 

 as belonging to au animal which they named the Pere aux Booufs. 

 The Shawnee Indians believed [that with these enormous animals 



there existed men of 

 proportionate deve- 

 lopment, and that 

 the Great Being de- 

 stroyed both with 

 thunderbolts. Those 

 of Virginia state that 

 as a troop of these 

 terrible quadrupeds 

 were destroying the 

 deer, the bisons, and 

 the other animals 

 created for the use 

 of the Indians, the 

 Great Man slew them 

 all with his thun- 

 der, except the Big 

 Bull, who, nothing 

 daunted, presented 

 his enormous fore- 

 head to the bolts, 

 and shook them off 

 as they fell, till, being 

 at last wounded in 

 the side, he fled to- 

 wards the great 

 lakes, where he is to 

 this day. 



Buffon seems to 

 have been the fii-st 

 who noticed the oc- 

 currence of thpse 

 teeth in the Old 

 World, and figures 

 one alleged to have been found in Little Tartary, and given to him 

 by the Comte de Vergennes. This is very large, having from eight 

 to ten points, and weighing 11 Ibs. 4ozs. He also figures another 

 from the museum of the Abbe" Chappe, said to have been brought 

 from Siberia. Pallas announces another instance ; and gives a figure 

 of one from the Ural Mountains. Cuvier states that he for a long 

 time thought that his Mastodon giganteus inhabited the Old Con- 

 tinent as well as America, but he confesses his doubts as to this point. 

 The Abbe Chappe, he remarks, had been in California, and there is 

 no certain evidence that he brought back his Mastodon tooth from 

 Siberia. The tooth figured by Pallas, he thinks, may perhaps Lave 

 belonged to M. anyustidens, aucl he asks, who shall assure us that the 

 Comte de Vergennes was not in error as to the locality of the great 

 molar presented by him to Buffon, and which, together with that 

 formerly iu the cabinet of the AbbcS Chappe, is in the Paris Museum '! 

 Cuvier sums up by saying that he does not entirely pretend to 

 invalidate these three proofs, but that he begins no longer to regard 

 them as sufficient. 



The following species have been named : Mastodon yiganlcus, M. 

 angustidens (Europe, America ? ), M. Andium (Andes), M. Hwnboldlii 

 (Concep9ion Chili), M. minutus, M. Tapiroides, M. Tuncmsis, M. 

 Averncnsia (Epplesheim, Puy de Dome), M. dcpliantoidca (Irawaddi, 

 Sewalik Mountains), M. latidcn-i (Irawaddi, Sewalik Mountains), and 

 M. longirostris, Kaup. Professor Owen has referred the teeth from 

 the N orfolk Crag to the last-named species. 



Remains of the Mastodon were found by Captain Cautley iu the Se- 

 walik Mountains ; and in assigning an age to the formation, the Captain 

 adopts the views of Dr. Falconer, who considers the deposit to be 



