THE MUSK [DEER]. 



43 



The value of the Musk perfume causes the animal to be persecuted beyond measure. From 

 Chardin we learn that the hunters are obliged to cover the nose and mouth with linen when removing 

 the scent-sac, to prevent pulmonary haemorrhage. "I have," says he, "gained accurate information 

 respecting this circumstance, and as I have heard the same thing talked of by some Armenians 

 who had been to Boutan, I think that it is true. The odour is so powerful in the East Indies 



MUSK [DEEK]. 



that I could never support it, and when I trafficked for musk I always kept in the open air, with 

 a handkerchief over my face, and at a distance from those who handled the sacs ; and hence I know 

 by experience that this musk is very apt to give headaches, and is altogether insupportable when 

 quite recent. I add that no drug is so easily adulterated, or more apt to be so." 



THE GIRAFFE.* 



Apart from its unique proportions and its size, the Giraffe presents peculiarities in its 

 organisation which compel us to separate it from the Deer oil the one hand, and the hollow-horned 

 ruminants on the other. In both these groups the appendages on the head, whether developed as 

 antlers or as horns, are distinct prolongations from the forehead bones themselves. In the Giraffe, how- 

 ever, the three bony appendages, one median and two lateral, all covered with skin, instead of being 

 produced as outgrowths from any portion of the skull, are separate and independent conical bony 

 " processes " which stand upon the skull, capping roughened conical prominences destined to support 

 them. Neither are horns, like those of Sheep or Oxen, nor antlers like those of the Deer, ever found 

 upon these processes, a tuft of hair alone surmounting the lateral pair. 



The neck of the Giraffe is longer than that of any other living animal, notwithstanding which it con- 

 forms to what, on account of its almost constant applicability, may be termed a law, namely, that there 

 are but seven vertebrae which go to form the neck of a mammalian animal. In this animal, such being 

 the case, each vertebra is very long, which makes the neck correspondingly awkward and inflexible ; 

 so that when the head is much carried to the side, the conformation and enumeration of the bones in 

 the cervical region is not a matter of any difficulty. 



The Giraffe is a native of Africa south of the Sahara. Most of the specimens which reach Europe 

 in a living state are brought from Nubia and the north-east of the continent generally. The adult 

 male attains a height of sixteen feet, the female rarely exceeding fourteen feet. They live and have 

 bred well in captivity, although, as may be readily imagined, they are most delicate, and require much 

 special care, particularly to prevent the joints of their lengthy limbs from being injured. 



* CamstvpardaJis giraffa. 



