ELEPHANT. 



KLKPHANT. 



Skull of African Elephant. 



V 



\ 



Soriion of the Skull of Indian Klrphut. 



, shown thr> ojx-tiinf'of the no-trlli ; , the cellular lnni which w>j>aratr 

 tb ritmul from the internal Ubie of the rtull ; r, the caritjr where the brain 



elephant which died t Florence in 1657 confirms this statement. 

 Allen Moulin*, on the oontrary (' Anatomical Account of the Elephant 

 burned in Dublin,' London, 1682, 4to.), and Daubenton, represent 

 tlie number of pain u 20. The elephant in the Museum of the 

 Koyml Collage of Surgeons (Chunce, formerly of Exeter Change) hat 

 19 pairs of ribs; and that in the Itritiiih Museum has the same 

 number, 14 true and 5 false; but Dr. Gray informs un that in a 

 second specimen of a young one, the bones of which have not been 

 separated, there are 20 pairs, 15 true and 5 false. There are only 

 three lumbar vertebno. The margin of the scapula, which is turned 

 towards the spine, and is shortest in moat of the proper quadrupeds, 

 is the longest in the Elephant, as it is in the Cheiroptera, most of the 

 Quatlrumaua,tLnd especially in man. There is no ligamentum teres, 

 and consequently no impression on the head of the femur or thigh- 

 bone. 



Structure of Internal Soft Parts. The following internal soft parts 

 are more particularly worthy of remark in the Elephant : Brain, 

 &.O., a portion of the dura muter from an Asiatic Elephant may be 

 seen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London 

 (Gallery, No. 1846), where the termination of the falx and the com- 

 mencement of the tentorium, or process which separates the cerebrum 

 from the cerebellum, are shown. The two fibrous layers of the dura 

 mater are separated by a softer cellular substance, in which the 

 vessels ramify ; and it may be observed that the thickness of the 

 dura mater is in proportion to the size of the skull, and of the entire 

 unimal, but not to the size of the brain, which does not much exceed 

 that of the human brain, as will be seen in the preparation of the 

 brain of a young Asiatic Elephant (No. 1331). For, though the 

 absolute size of the organ exceeds that of man, the proportion which 

 the cerebrum bears to the rest of the brain, and especially that part 

 of the hemisphere which forms the roof and sides of the lateral 

 ventricle, is much less. The hemispheres are broad and short, with 

 a considerable development of the natiform protuberance. The con- 

 volutions are comparatively small and numerous. A lateral section 

 has been removed from the left hemisphere, which shows that the 

 anfractuosities are also deep, extending in some cases more than two- 

 thirds of an inch into the substance of the brain. The hippocampus 

 is comparatively smaller than in the ass, and the corpus striatum 

 larger. The ventricle is seen to be continued into the olfactory bulb. 

 The cerebellum is of considerable width, and its surface, as shown 

 by the lateral section, is increased by numerous and complex 

 anfractuosities. The tuber nnuiilaro corresponds in size to the 

 development of the lateral lobes of the cerebellum. The corpora 

 olivaria are remarkably prominent. The origins of all the cerebral 

 nerves are shown, among which the olfactory nerves of the lifth 

 pair, which supplies the proboscis, are remarkable for their prodigious 

 size ; whilst the optic nerves, and those which supply the muscles of 

 the eye, are remarkable for their small size. The pin mater is left on 

 with 'the vessels at the base of the brain. A bristle is placed in the 

 infundibulum. (' Cat. Gallery,' vol. iii.). The brain in man is from 

 3^ to ^y of the body, that of the elephant T <gy The stomach is simple, 

 the intestines are very voluminous, and the csecum enormous. In the 

 sanguiferous system the heart is worthy of note, and a section of the 

 right auricle and ventricle of that of an Asiatic Elephant may be seen 

 in the museum last mentioned (Gallery, No. 824). In this animal, 

 which, in some other respects, singularly resembles the Bodeittia, three 

 venae cavao terminate in the right auricle. Besides the Eustachian 

 valve, which projects between the orifices f the inferior and left 

 superior cavte, there is also, as in the Porcupine, a rudiment of a 

 superior valve, extending from the posterior side of the orifice of the 

 right superior cava. The tricuspid valve, and its chordae tendinegj 

 and columns* carneic, are also well displayed. (' Cat. Gallery,' vol. ii.) 

 The period of gestation of the Elephant is twenty months and some 

 days. The breasts of the female are placed under the chest, and the 

 young one sucks, not with the trunk, but with the mouth. " The 

 young of the elephant, at leant all those I have seen," writes Mr. 

 Corse, " begin to nibble and suck the breast soon after birth ; pressing 

 it with the trunk, which, by natural instinct, they know will make the 

 milk flow more readily into the mouth while sucking. Elephants 

 never lie down to give their young ones suck ; and it often happens, 

 when the dam is tall, that she is obliged for some time to bend her 

 body towards her young to enable him to reach the nipple with his 

 mouth ; consequently, if ever the trunk was used to lay hold of the 

 nipple, it would be at this period, when he is making laborious effort* 

 to reach it with his mouth, but which he could always cosily do with 

 his trunk if it answered the purpose. In sucking, the young elephant 

 always grasps the nipple (which projects lii i/"iiMlly from the breast) 

 with the side of his mouth. I have very often observed this ; and so 

 sensible are the attendants of it, that with them it is a common 

 tice to raise a small mound of earth, about 6 or 8 inches high, for the 

 young one to stand on, and thus save the mother the trouble of 

 bending her body every time she gives suck, which she cannot readily 

 do when tied to her picket" The maternal affection does not seem 

 to be very strong in the female elephant, at least in captivity ; for 

 the same author states that tame elephants are never suffered to 

 remain loose, as instances occur of the mother leaving her young and 

 escaping into the woods; and he says that if a wild elephant happens 

 to be separated from her young, for only two days, though giving suck, 



