82 MEMOIRS OF 



enormous and solitary grinders of the two living 

 species of elephants, the unchanging ivoiy of 

 the tusks of the walrus, the fearful weapons of 

 the lion and the tiger, and the sharp incisors of 

 the bat. How surprised will the novice be, to 

 find, that the head, which he has been accus- 

 tomed to consider as one mass of bone, is, in 

 mammalia, composed of several parts, and in 

 fishes, divided to infinity. Deeply will he reflect, 

 when, in an adjoining room, he follows, in the en- 

 tire skull, the gradations of the frontal bone, 

 which mark the most intelligent of mankind, to 

 the animal whose only instinct is that of procur- 

 ing food ; and on descending the staircase, to 

 find himself in the midst of human skeletons, in 

 all their varieties, from the Hottentot Venus to 

 the graceful being of an European drawing-room. 

 For a moment, his feeling of admiration at the 

 works of God, are interrupted by a contempt of 

 that external beauty which has hitherto been so 

 precious in his eyes ; but the great room, if I 

 mistake not, will banish every sentiment but 

 those of awe and reverence ; for he will there 

 find himself walking amid the remains of the 

 most gigantic of the earth, and the enormous 

 monsters which inhabit the depths of the ocean. 

 The solid and ponderous members of the ele- 



