266 ELK. 



We are informed on the authority of Mr. Oed- 

 man, as communicated to Mr. Pennant, that the 

 Elk is now become very rare in the southern parts 

 of Sweden, though by no means uncommon in 

 the northern districts. 



An ancient superstition has prevailed in many 

 parts of the European world, that the Elk is natu- 

 rally subject to the epilepsy ; and that it finds its 

 cure by scratching its ear with the hoof till it 

 draws blood. In consequence of this notion, the 

 hoof of the Elk forms an article of the ancient 

 materia medica. This absurdity seems to have 

 originated from the circumstance which is said 

 often to take place when the Elk is first started, 

 viz. that the animal, through sudden fear or sur- 

 prise, falls down, as if disabled, and does not re- 

 cover the complete use of its limbs tiil some se- 

 conds have elapsed. A piece of the hoof was 

 anciently set in a ring, and worn as a preservative 

 against the complaint above mentioned ; and 

 sometimes the hoof was held in the patient's hand, 

 or applied to the pulse, or put to the left ear, or 

 suspended from the neck in such a manner as to 

 touch the breast, &c. &c. &c. 



In Josselyn's Voyages to New England* the 

 American Moose is mentioned as being sometimes 



* This book, which is written in an odd, rambling, quaint style, 

 was published in 1674. The account of the Moose is as follows: 



" The Moose or FJke is a creature^or rather, if you will, a mon- 

 ster of superfluity ; a full grown Moose is many times bigger than. 

 an English Oxe, their horns as I have said elsewhere, very big (and 

 brancht out into palms) the tips whereof are sometimes found to 



