424 USE OF NATURAL INSTRUMENTS. 



the case of the bull or wild boar. The domestic ox breaks 

 fences with its horns. A bull lifted a gate off its hinges by 

 means of its horns, employed as a hoist or lever (' Animal 

 World'). The horns of the cow and ram are used some- 

 times in the extrication of lambs or ewes from positions of 

 peril in one case by applying them in tearing aside briars, 

 in another by employing them as a lever (Macaulay). 



The effective use of a bodily organ in many different 

 ways as an instrument, implement, tool, or weapon is illus- 

 trated by the applications to practical purposes made by the 

 elephant of its proboscis (or trunk). It can perform the most 

 delicate operations, such as picking up a pin, and the 

 coarsest, such as grasping and lifting a log of teak or throw- 

 ing down some forest tree. By means of it the animal can 

 gently grasp the child that strays before it on the high-road, 

 or can seize it by the clothes and place it carefully out of 

 danger, or it can squeeze its enemy man to death. It 

 employs it in making a salaam, in presenting a gift, in 

 clearing the way of movable obstacles, in breaking off tree 

 branches for use as whisks, in plucking fruit, in stripping 

 bamboos of their foliage, in ringing shop bells (Buckland), 

 in holding and in blowing wind instruments as I have 

 myself seen in playing the organ, in using planks thrown 

 to it by man to help it to extricate itself from a quicksand 

 (Wood), even in embracing its fellows. Of a military ele- 

 phant that had been separated two years from its regiment 

 we are told that, on the return of the regiment, ' it was 

 quite affecting to see with what kindly recognition he em- 

 braced any of his (human) companions, placing his trunk 

 tenderly on their neck and shoulders ('Chambers's Journal'). 



Very commonly animals use their natural tools or weapons 

 conjointly, the one to assist the other. Thus the horse in the 

 fight uses both its teeth and hoofs. The elephant, in destroy- 

 ing its cage or the peasant's hut, employs both proboscis and 

 tusks. In killing man it may further use its ponderous feet, 

 or bring the whole weight of its huge body to bear in crush- 

 ing him to death. Claws and teeth are used conjointly by 

 many or all of the Carnivora in destroying and devouring 

 their prey. The black bear of North America uses both 



