400 



ELEPHANT. 



elephant, or indeed any other teeth answering to the 

 tusks of the upper jaw. The rest of the teeth have 

 their crowns, generally speaking flat, but from the 

 way in winch they are constructed, they are well 

 adapted for cutting and bruising those hard substances 

 upon which elephants are at times obliged to feed. 

 Those teeth which are the only useful ones to the 

 animals, in preparing their food for the stomach, may 

 be compared to a set of irregular chisels placed 

 across the jaw, and supported in the intervals by a 

 substance much softer, and bearing some resemblance 

 to the ivory of the tusks, though probably not so hard, 

 and containing more animal matter. The protube- 

 rant ridges, which we have said resemble irregular 

 chisels, are formed of the hardened enamel ; and 

 though, from the quantity of food which so large an 

 animal requires, they are subject to wear, they are 

 always higher than the intervening substance by 

 which they are supported; and it is probable, also, 

 that this substance, being in so tar elastic, gives way a 

 little when the food requires a powerful bite. 



In the Asiatic elephant, which is the only one of 

 which the progress has been accurately observed, the 

 first grinders, or milk-teeth as they are called, begin 

 to cut the surface as early as nine or ten days alter 

 the birth. Those grinders consist of four larnime, or 

 ridges of enamel ; but they are altogether of soft 

 texture, so that they soon wear away. They are not 

 shed, as is the case with the milk-teeth of some other 

 mammalia, and with the milk-tusks of the elephant 

 itself; but are worn away gradually while the second 

 set are coining forward ; and by the time that these are 

 full grown, which is the end of about the second year, 

 the body of the first ones is completely worn away, 

 the roots are absorbed, and every vestige of the 

 teeth is obliterated. The second teeth contain 

 eight or nine laminae, or about double the number in 

 the first, and the jaws lengthen proportionately to give 

 them room. When the second set are perfected, and 

 have to perform the whole labour of mastication, by 

 which they are to be in time worn away, the third 

 immediately begin to form in the rear of them ; and 

 they continue growing from the end of the second to 

 the end of the fifth year, by which time the second 

 teeth are nearly exhausted, and the third occupy their 

 place. These third ones have twelve or thirteen 

 laminae, and are consequently much longer, that is, 

 they occupy a greater length of the jaw than their 

 predecessors ; and the jaw itself of course lengthens 

 in proportion. The third set lasts from the beginning 

 of the sixth year to the end of the ninth, at the last 

 of which periods it gives place to the fourth set, ou 

 which the number of laminae to each tooth is fifteen 

 or sixteen. This process goes on during the life of 

 the animal, every succeeding set of teeth consisting 

 of a greater number of laminae, occupying a greater 

 length of the jaw, and requiring at least a year longer 

 than its predecessor to bring it to maturity. 



We have been thus particular in describing the 

 mode of dentition in the elephant, because there is 

 nothing like it in the whole animal kingdom ; and as 

 it evinces a power of reproduction without end in the 

 teeth which those animals use in feeding, it may be 

 considered as an indication of great longevity ; the 

 more so, that the teeth of most animals are the parts 

 of them which are apt to suffer the earliest decay. 

 There is something slightly analogous to this in the 

 cutting teeth of some of the rodent animals, especially 

 in those which have to gnaw bark and other hard 



substances for their food ; and these are me teeth 

 whicn in their substance most resemble the teeth of 

 the elephant. Those teeth in the rodent animals 

 are, however, simply cutting teeth, and not used in 

 bruising or grinding their food ; they are therefore 

 simple chisels, with a layer of enamel on the front 

 side, and the supporting substance, which is not un- 

 like ivorj', placed behind, and so much lower on the 

 gum as to allow the cutting edge of the enamel to act. 

 Those teeth 'grow for life, as well as the teeth of the 

 elephant ; but they do this, not by any replacement 

 of the old tooth by a new one, but by the growth of 

 the same individual teeth at the roots, as they are 

 worn away at the points. Thus the analogy between 

 them is comparatively a very slight one : and the 

 elephant must still be allowed to be the only possessor 

 of that singular reproduction of the teeth, by which 

 it is distinguished from every other known animal. 



But though this reproduction of the teeth is, in 

 itself, a very decided proof that elephants are long- 

 lived animals, it furnishes us with iio duta whereby 

 we are able to ascertain the exact age to which they 

 live. Nor have we sufficient knowledge of elephants 

 in a state of nature for enabling us to get at the fact 

 by observation, as elephants in this state are not 

 often seen, except when they are to be captured for 

 servitude, or hunted for the sake of their tusks, the 

 last of which, probably, conduces the most to their 

 extermination. There are recorded instances, how- 

 ever, of elephants living to the age of one hundred 

 and fifty years in a state of servitude ; and if we add 

 half to that period, or even double it, we shall not 

 perhaps over-rate their duration in a state of freedom. 



It is probable that the decay of elephants in old 

 age arises from the stiffening of the joints ; for four 

 or five tons constantly borne, is a heavy pressure on 

 the working structure of an animal. This stir!', ning 

 of the joints in advanced age may also, in part, have 

 given rise to the old fabulous belief, that elephants 

 are incapable of bending their legs, so as to lie down, 

 or even to kneel, for the purpose of repose. In the 

 case of young elephants this is not true, for tln-y 

 lie'down to sleep in the same way us oiher animals, 

 though probably not quite so often. When they are 

 old they are said not to lie down often, even for 

 the purpose of sleeping ; and instances are men- 

 tioned of elephants in India, subjected to labour, 

 which did not lie down far twelve months or more, 

 though, they occasionally slept a little on their 

 feet. The wild ones are said to take their occa- 

 sional repose leaning against the bole of a tree. IP 

 confinement in this country, we believe, they take 

 their repose leaning against the sides of their dens ; 

 but an elephant in a den, and exposed to tne climate 

 of this country, is so much out of its natural element, 

 that no conclusion drawn from observing it will 

 apply to the race in a state of nature. 



The voice of the elephant, as usually heard in a 

 state of confinement, is almost as hollow as the roar 

 of a lion, though it wants the peculiarly offensive 

 roughness of the lion's voice, which grates so harshly 

 upon the ear, and puts one in mind of the rending 

 and mangling of the flesh of animals. But this 

 disagreeably hollow sound is not the only one 

 uttered by the elephant, or even the most common 

 one, where the animal is free and at its ease. The 

 elephant has three voices : one which is shrill, but 

 ends in a murmur, as if the animal were coaxing ; one 

 which is deep, but soft and complaining ; and one, 



