HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT, 



'125 



a nature for being made the foundation of absolute demon- 

 stration. Still the degree of animal sagacity, leaving intel- 

 lect altogether out of the question, bears some relation to 

 the volume of the brain, although we are not able to say 

 that they follow the same numerical proportion, or even to 

 state the law in a numerical series of any kind. 



That there should be an increase of the one with an in- 

 crease of the other, is in perfect accordance with the gen- 

 eral analogy of nature, which runs through the whole 

 system of animal life, and forms no small part of the beauty 

 of that system. The power, especially the mechanical 

 power, of a particular organ, such as the clutching of a 

 paw or the turning of a proboscis, is a local matter, and 

 may depend on the extent to which that particular organ 

 is furnished with the energy of life ; and ganglions and 

 local nerves may accomplish this in the largest of the 

 mammalia, as well as in the most minute of the insect 

 tribe. But that which we call sagacity does not depend 

 on any thing local, it belongs to the whole system ; and, 

 therefore, if we are to refer it anywhere, we might refer 

 it to the brain, or the central mass of the nervous system ; 

 at least, if we do not this, we must abandon all analogy, 

 and set at naught the results of all observation ; well, if 

 we compare the brain in man with the whole mass of the 

 body (and the human brain can be no more mental, at the 

 same time that it is more material, than the brain of any 

 other animals) ; and if we make the same comparison 

 in the elephant, we find that in man, when not overloaded 

 with fat (which is not understood to be particularly favor- 

 able to sagacity), the volume of the brain is to that of the 

 whole body in the ratio of about 1 to 212. But if we make 

 the same practical comparison in the elephant, we find the 

 brain to the body in the ratio of only about 1 to 500, thus 

 forming a very small part of what it proportionably is in 

 man. In as far as the analogy of nature is concerned, 

 what has been now stated appears to be conclusive 



