350 



ON THE 



therefore first offered to him, but these he had the 

 sagacity to detect and refused them accordingly. 

 Recourse was then had to fire arms, swords, and 

 pikes, ; but it was not until after more than an 

 hour's conflict, during which 130 musket balls 

 were expended, and most desperate wounds from 

 swords and pikes inflicted, that this noble animal, 

 once the pride of his master and the admiration of 

 the public, was effectually destroyed, after endan- 

 gering the demolition of the whole building. More 

 circumstantial information on this transaction has 

 been given in the third volume of Mr. Griffith's 

 illustration of Cnvier's animal Kingdom, to which 

 we are indebted for the preceding account. 



We have been led into this detailed history 

 of the Elephant, to afford an opportunity of evin- 

 cing how very limited are the rational pow- 

 ers of even the most intellectual quadrupeds, 

 of which the Elephant may be considered 

 as one, when compared with those of man ; and 

 how strictly this qualification, in the former in- 

 stance, has been confined to the wants and necessi- 

 ties of the animal, or if more extended, to the 

 obvious accommodation of our own species. For 

 though throughout the various orders we may 

 observe a regular chain of instincts, distinguished in 

 several of the species, by great sagacity and contri- 

 vance, and in a few, by a certain portion of reason, 

 which had it been capable of full cultivation might 

 have brought the brute animal upon a level 



