168 



MAMMALIA. 



consider as the fundamental law of animal mechanics 

 at perfect defiance. It contains no bone upon which 

 a muscle can be inserted ; and yet it is capable of 

 more varied motion than any other organ in the whole 

 range of the animal kingdom. Nor need we wonder 

 that the animal should take the utmost care to protect 

 this instrument from those predatory animals by 

 which it is occasionally assailed, because injury to 

 this would be far more fatal to it than injury to any 

 other part. Hence we find that when the elephant 

 is compelled to submit to the spring of the tiger, it 

 preserves its trunk with the utmost solicitude, and if 

 it cannot receive the enemy upon the tusks, which 

 are its natural defences, and placed in the same plane 

 with the trunk, one on eacli side, as if they were 

 expressly intended for defending that, it receives him 

 upon some part of its body, where it can instantly 

 lounge down and crush him under the ponderous 

 weight of its body. 



The trunk consists of a double tube or canal, being 

 a continuation of the nostrils, lined with a fibro-ten- 

 dinous membrane, the perfect ilexibility of which is 

 secured by a number of follicles which open on the 

 surface, and constantly discharge a lubricating fluid. 

 The canals of the trunk do not pass directly to the 

 lungs of the animal, but have various flexures ; and 

 at the proximal extremity of the organ there are 

 placed tendinous valves by means of which the pas- 

 sage to the lungs can be opened or shut at pleasure. 

 Externally, the covering of the trunk, especially at 

 its distal extremity, is a very keen organ of touch ; 

 and the termination, which consists of a prehensile lip 

 and a finger-like projection, can pick up the smallest 

 substance with all the neatness of a hand, while the 

 organ altogether can perform many offices which no 

 hand could possibly perform. 



The interval between the two tubular openings of 

 the trunk, and also the walls which surround them, 

 are made up of fasciculi of muscular fibres, which, 

 though they appear, generally speaking, to stretch 

 longitudinally, are capable of moving in all directions. 

 There are, generally speaking, four principal muscles 

 in the organ, which are inserted, the two large ones 

 on the frontal bone and the upper part of the bone 

 of the nose, and the two others on the maxillary bone 

 before and under the eyes. None of the other ani- 

 mals, which have a motion of the nose, have any 

 thing like such powerful or produced insertion upon 

 the bones, as is possessed by the elephant ; and it is 

 this firm basis which gives support to the very extra- 

 Ordinary motions of the trunk. The tapir makes a 

 slight approximation in this respect, but even it is 

 nothing to the elephant, which must thus be con- 

 sidered as standing alone among living animals, and 

 pointing at habits and at a locality which are as 

 peculiar as the animal itself. 



Each of these pairs of muscles is composed of two 

 kinds of fibres, the one placed longitudinally, and the 

 other radiating in a transverse direction. These are 

 so inserted in the external membrane of the trunk, 

 and in the membrane which lines its two cavities 

 internally, that, though they give it every sort of 

 motion in extension, in contraction, and in flexure, 

 they do not diminish the size of the internal openings, 

 which remain the same in all the variety of its motions. 

 Internally it may be considered both as a drinking 

 horn and as a watering machine. It takes in a con- 

 siderable quantity of water, pure if for the drink of 

 the animal, but mixed with mud if for the purpose of 



ridding it of flies and other insects which annoy the 

 skin. In taking up water of either description, it is 

 drawn by suction as far as the valves at the base of 

 the trunk ; but these are closed the instant that the 

 water reaches them, and thus not a drop can pass 

 from the trunk into the lungs of the animal. When 

 the water is lor the purpose of drinking, the head is 

 elevated, the trunk recurved till the extremity of it 

 enters the mouth ; and then an expiration of the air 

 from the lungs opens the valves and discharges the 

 water with no inconsiderable force. If, on the other 

 hand, the object is merely to cool and refresh the 

 skin, successive trunksful of water are projected over 

 it with no inconsiderable force, and with as much 

 certainty as if they were projected by a garden 

 engine ; so that, by means of this instrument, the ele- 

 phant can remove annoyances from its skin with more 

 ease and certainty than can be done by any animal 

 which has merely the use of its mouth and paws. 



The localities which elephants inhabit in a state of 

 nature require such a provision as this. They are 

 the most fertile parts of tropical countries, rank with 

 tall vegetation, abounding in moisture, and by neces- 

 sary consequence infested with insects. When we 

 see an elephant which has been for some time exposed 

 to the dry and cold air of our climates, its skin appears 

 wrinkled and shrivelled, and we are apt to imagine 

 that it is entirely destitute of feeling. This, however, 

 is quite a mistake ; and it appears to be a very gene- 

 ral law in the character of the mammalia, that the 

 sensibility of skin is in proportion to its thickness. 

 This holds in the human subject as well as in every 

 other ; for we find that the skin of the palms of the 

 hands and the soles of the feet, which is, generally 

 speaking, the most sentient in the body, becomes, 

 when indurated with tannin, as thick as the hide of a 

 buffalo. There is another circumstance which shows 

 the great sensibility of the skin of the elephant, and 

 that is the singular power of the sub-cutaneous 

 muscles. The action of those muscles, without the 

 stirring of a single limb of the animal, or even without 

 any specific motion of the body, is quite sufficient 

 not only to rid it of any common incumbrance, but 

 to shake off a beast of prey when clutching with its 

 feet and grasping with its teeth. This is the ordinary 

 way in which the elephant gets rid of any animal 

 which attacks it ; and the moment the attacker is 

 thrown off by this singular movement of the skin, the 

 elephant is ready to fall upon him or trample him to 

 death. 



It is in the finding of its food, however, that the 

 efficiency of the elephant's trunk most remarkably 

 displays itself, and displays the function not only of 

 one hand, but absolutely of a pair of hands. While 

 one part of it coils round a branch and brings it down, 

 the other part lays hold of the leaves on the extremity, 

 pulls them off, and conveys them to the mouth ; and 

 thus the elephant can feed upon vegetable matters 

 higher above the ground than any other animal. Nor 

 is the efficiency of this curious instrument confined 

 to such operations as these ; for in the arid season, 

 when the ground vegetation is burnt up, and all that 

 remains on the surface is a few withered stalks of 

 grass, almost as hard as wire, the trunk can be applied 

 in collecting them with a neatness which no hand can 

 accomplish. It sweeps like a broom by its lateral 

 motion, and coils as lithely as a serpent ; and when 

 it has swept the dried grass in sufficient quantity, it 

 can form it into a little bundle and convey it to the 



