PACHYDERMATA. 151 
quisite for the alveoli of these tusks renders the upper jaw so high, and so 
shortens the bones of the nose; that the nostrils in the skeleton are 
placed near the top of the face; but in the living animal they are con- 
tinued out into a cylindrical trunk, or proboscis, composed of several 
thousands of small muscles, variously interlaced, extremely flexible, en- 
dowed with the most exquisite sensibility, and terminated by an appendage 
resembling a finger. This trunk gives to the Elephant almost as much 
skill as the perfect state of his hand confers onthe Monkey. With it he 
seizes every thing he wishes to convey to his mouth, and pumps up his 
drink, which he instantly jerks into his gullet, curving this admirable 
organ in it, and in this manner supplies the necessity of a long neck, 
which would be utterly unable to support his vast head and heavy tusks. 
Within the parietes of the cranium, however, are several great cavities, 
which render the head lighter; the lower jaw has no incisors whatever; 
the intestines are very voluminous, the stomach simple, caecum enormous, 
and the mamme, two in number, placed under the chest. The young 
suck with the mouth, and not with the trunk. 
But one living genus of the Proboscidiana is known, that of 
Exvepuas, Lin. 
Or the Elephant,* which comprehends the largest of the terrestrial 
Mammalia. The astonishing nature of his trunk, an instrument at once 
agile and powerful, the organ of touch as well as of smell, forms a singu- 
lar contrast with his clumsy aspect and heavy proportions; and as this is 
joined to a very imposing physiognomy, it has contributed to give exag- 
* The ancient history, as given by Cuvier, is extremely curious. ‘‘ Homer speaks 
frequently of ivory, but knew not the animal whence it was derived. The first of 
the Greeks who saw the elephant, were Alexander and his soldiers, when they fought 
with Porus; and they must have observed them well, for Aristotle gives a complete 
history of this animal, and much truer in its details than those of our moderns. 
After the death of Alexander, Antigonus possessed the greatest number of elephants. 
Pyrrhus first brought them into Italy 472 years after the foundation of Rome: they 
were disembarked at Tarentum. The Romans, to whom these animals were entirely 
strange, gave them the name of Leucanian Bulls. Curius Dentatus, who captured 
four of these animals from Pyrrhus, brought them to Rome for the ceremony of his 
triumph. ‘These were the first which were there exhibited, but afterwards they be- 
came in some measure common. Metellus having vanquished the Carthaginians in 
Sicily, conducted their elephants to Rome on rafts, to the number of a hundred and 
twenty according to Seneca, of a hundred and forty-two according to Pliny. Clau- 
dius Pulcher had combats of the elephant in the circus in 655; and similar combats, 
either of elephant against elephant, of the elephant against the rhinoceros, the bull, 
or the gladiator, were exhibited by Lucullus, Pompey, Cesar, Claudius, and Nero. 
Pompey harnessed them to his car during his triumph for Africa. Germanicus ex- 
hibited some which danced in a rude fashion. In the reign of Nero they were seen 
to dance on a rope, carrying at the same time a Roman knight. One may read in 
fflian the extraordinary feats they were brought to execute. It is true they were 
trained to them from their earliest age, and ALlian says even, expressly, that these 
dancing elephants were brought forth at Rome. This assertion, with the confirma- 
tion it has received in our own day from the experiments of Mr. Corse, leads us to 
hope it will be possible to multiply this useful animal in a state of domestication.” 
