THE RHINOCEROS. lG.5 



Medicinal virtues attributed to the rhinoceros. ^ 



in their fury it is not uncommon for them to 

 turn on their masters. 



The flesh, hoofs, teeth, and even the dung, are 

 used medicinally by the Asiatics. The horn, 

 when cut through the middle, is said to exhibit 

 on each side, the rude figure of a man ; the out- 

 lines being marked by small white strokes. Many 

 of the Indian princes drink out of cups made of 

 this horn; under the idea, that when these hold 

 any poisonous draught, the liquor will ferment 

 till it runs over the top. Goblets made of the 

 horns of the young, are esteemed the most valu- 

 able. Professor Thunberg, when at the Cape, 

 tried them, both wrought into goblets and un- 

 wrought, both old and young horns, with se- 

 veral sorts of poison, but he did not observe the 

 least motion or effervescence ; when, however, a 

 solution of corrosive sublimate was poured into 

 one of them, there arose a few bubbles, which 

 were produced by the air that had been inclosed 

 jn the pores of the horn,, and was now disengaged 

 from it. 



The only two animals of this species that have 

 been brought into England during a considerable 

 number of years, were both purchased for the 

 exhibition rooms at Exeter 'Change. One of 

 them came from Laknaor, in the East Indies, 

 and was brought over in the Melville Castle, East 

 Indiaman, in the year 1790, as a present to Mr. 

 J)undas. But this gentleman, not wishing to 

 have the trouble of keeping him, gave the animal 



