HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT. 119 



ting teeth, and not used in bruising or grinding their food ; 

 they are therefore simple chisels, with a layer of enamel t 

 on the front side, and the supporting substance, which 

 is similar to ivory, 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 ele- 

 phant; but they do this, not in the 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 compara- 

 tively a very slight one ; and the elephant must still be 

 allowed to be the only possessor of that singular repro- 

 duction 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 no data whereby we are able to ascer- 

 tain the exact age to which they live. Nor have we suf- 

 ficient knowledge of elephants in a state of nature for en- 

 abling 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 struc- 

 ture of an animal. This stiffening of the joints in ad- 

 vanced 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 pur- 

 pose of repose. In the case of young elephants this is 



