THE TRUNK. 245 



Scientifically to describe so well-known an animal 

 as the elephant, would be worse than superfluous ; 

 and I shall therefore confine myself to speaking of its 

 more striking features. 



The most remarkable of these, probably, is its 

 proboscis, or trunk, which is composed of mem- 

 branes, nerves, and muscles, and, in a full-grown 

 male, is some eight feet in length, and about five 

 feet in circumference at the base. Indeed, of all 

 the instruments which nature has liberally bestowed 

 on her most favoured productions, it is, perhaps, 

 the most complete, and from time immemorial 

 has commanded the admiration of all who have 

 witnessed its remarkable power. Cicero calls it, 

 by a bold figure of speech, " the elephant's hand." 

 Lucretius, even more expressively, describes it by 

 the word anguimanus, the snake hand; and the 

 Caffre, when he kills an elephant, approaches the 

 trunk with superstitious awe, and, cutting it off, 

 solemnly inters it, repeatedly exclaiming, " The 

 elephant is a great lord, and the trunk is his 

 hand." 



It is an organ of both feeling and motion. The 

 animal can not only move and bond it, but can con- 

 tract, lengthen, and turn it in every direction. The 

 trunk is terminated by an extremely flexible pro- 

 longation of the muscles, destined to sei/o whatever 

 the animal desires. This may be considered his 

 finger, and opposed to it is a sort of thumb, which 

 enables him to hold fast the object which he wishes 

 to take up. Between the two are the nostrils. The 

 parts in question are equally flexible, and as capable 



