240 VHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1728. 



^n Account of Elephants Teelh and Bones, found under Ground. By Sir 

 Hans Sloane, Bart. N° 403, p. 457. 



It is observable, that among the vast variety of extraneous substances, lodged 

 and found in several layers of the earth, at considerable depths, where it is im- 

 possible that they should have been bred, there are not so many productions 

 of the earth, as of the sea. And again, among those which must have origi- 

 nally belonged to the earth, there are many more remains of vegetables, than 

 of land animals. It appears however, by the histories of past times, and the 

 accounts of many, both antient and modern authors, that bones, teeth, and 

 sometimes almost whole skeletons of men and animals have been dug up, in 

 all ages of which we have histories, and almost in all parts of the world, of which 

 the most remarkable for their unusual size have been also the most noticed. 

 Thus, for instance, in Ireland there have been found the horns, bones, and 

 almost entire skeletons of a very large sort of deer, which is commonly believed 

 to have been the moose-deer, an animal of an uncommon size, some of which 

 k nd are thought to be still living in some remote and unfrequented parts of 

 the continent of America. 



Sir Hans Sloane, in this paper, chiefly confines himself to the elephant, 

 and such bones, dentes exerti, tusks and teeth of this animal, as are either in 

 his own possession, or have been mentioned by other authors, as having been 

 found under ground. And first, as to those fossil teeth in his own collection, 

 which doubtless once belonged to elephants, he adduces the following : 



N° 116 of his catalogue of quadrupeds and their parts, is the dens exertus, 

 or tusk of an elephant, which was taken up, 12 feet deep, from among sand, 

 or loam, in digging for gravel at the end of Gray's-Inn-lane, and preserved by 

 tying it about with whale-bones and tape, to keep it from falling to pieces, by 

 Mr. Conyers, an ingenious apothecary, and a great collector of curiosities of 

 all kinds. 



As most part of this tooth was fallen to pieces, nothing could be determined 

 about its length, when entire. The largest piece, and also the most entire, is 

 5-jV inches in length, and Q-^ inches in circumference, consequently something 

 more than 3 inches in diameter. This piece belonged to the basis, or bottom 

 of the tooth, where it is articulated with the head, as appears by a cavity in 

 form of a cone, which all these tusks have at bottom, and which was filled 

 with the sand of the gravel -pit. 



The condition in which this tooth was found suggests the two following 

 remarks. It shows, in the first place, how far subterraneous steams are apt to 



