THE "MASTODON GIGANTEUS." 



the path he had opened than to the fourth, or, at the utmost, 

 tifili looth; luakiug the whi)le uuujbcr to Le litiiu s;xleeu to 

 t«(.-iit\, ex^lusnu ul the great inckois or tutks. 



Ill 1831, Dr. Hays, the d!st:ngui.-lKd editor of the ' Amemnn 

 Journal ot the Medical tM-ieiaes,' read a paj er leloie iLe An.eii- 

 can 1 hiloNiphieal bui-iety, in vhich he ucsMiibtd \ aiious js.ws of 

 tlie Masto.ioii ggaiiteiis, and llie teeth ci nii.ii.ed in iheui. He 

 seems to have leen the tirsl "wr.ter \\ho cleaily pointed out the 

 jirobabiiity tliat the nuiuber ot thtse leelh wa^s.xen each side i>f 

 each jaw in the Mastodon gigaiiteus, and of couise the whole 

 number twenty-four. He says 'the whole number of teeth j os- 

 scssed by the animal described by Dr. Gudn.an, (Tetiacaulocioii) 

 is then at least twenty; and wc ihiuk that it is at le;;st jiiobable, 

 that the animal [os-scssed an mtei mediate tooth Leiween the 

 second tooth with three denticles, and that wi h four denticles. 

 Should we be coj'iect in our views, this animal possessed three 

 teeth wuh thiee denticles in each side of each jaw, making tlie 

 whole number of teeth twenty-four; but to rentier this ceiUiin 

 would requiie specimens of interniediale ages, to those liilheito 

 descrii ed.' These ha\e since been obtained, and have fully con- 

 firmed the o]iinion suggested by the sagacity of Dr. Hajs. In 

 the collection of the (Jainbridge Universit}-, there is a series of 

 jaws affording a perfect demonstiation of this fact, and settling 

 the number to be twenty-four. Professor Hoiner, in a jiaper 

 read to the Philosopliical Society, thought that theie might be a 

 greater number. De Blainville makes them twenty -four. 



The specimens in the collection of the Ameiican Philosophical 

 Society, those of Cambridge University, vaiious others in Kew- 

 York, Albany, and in my private collection, support the opinion 

 hat the number is twenty-four, and no more. 



The teeth are not all developed at the same* time, but in suc- 

 cession, in proportion to the waste of those which have preceded. 

 At fiist appear two small deciduous teeth, or milk molars; next 

 follows a third tooth, also deciduous, larger and more complicated 

 than the former; then a fourth tooth, of the same form as the last, 

 th>iugh greater in size. These four teeth s<jmetiiTies co-exist, as 

 in the Tetracaulodon's jaw, from the museum in New York, 

 originally described by Dr. Godman, and aftei wards more particu- 

 larly de.scribed and re|iresented by Dr. Hays in the 'Transactions 

 of the American Philosophical Society,' vol. iv. To the teeth 

 alreaily mentioned succeeds a fifth tooth, of the same form as the 

 last, but rather longer. Before the apjiearance of this, and even 

 in most cases before the fourth tooth shows itself^ one or more of 

 the firet teeth have disayipeared. The sixth and last tooth is mucli 

 larger, and formed in a mould different from any of the others." 



The plates represent in a beautiful style the dentition of several 

 skeletons, exhibiting the jaws and teeth of different ages. 



The tusks, which are incisor teeth, enormously developed, are 

 treated in the following chapter, as follows, pp. 87 — 90: 



"Besides the regular intermaxillaiy tusks, there aie two veiy 

 small one-s which show themselves m the upper jaw at the earliest 

 period of life but shortly dis.nppear and are succeeded by the 

 permanent tusks. This is shown by cutting into the tusk-socket 

 of our calf elephant head. The fact well established in regard 

 to the ele])hant, seems to aiford iircsi'inption, that besides the 

 great intermaxillary tusks of the Mastodon, there may be othere 

 in the upper or lower jaw, which appearing at an earlier period of 

 life, are, in the greater number of instances, lost before the animal 

 has advanced far in its existence. 



as the relic of the riglit cavity is perfectly distinct, retaining a 

 dejith of an inch and a haltj and nearly its original diameter. 



The Svperior Tvslcs. — The tusks of the ujiper jaw -weie ten 

 feet and ele\ en indies long; but being broken soon after e.vhum- 

 ation, only the anterior termination ot each (in leiig;h about four 

 feet and in djameier at the truncated extremity tiveiuclies) remains 

 in a jicriect condition. The middle jiortion, lather more than 

 two tee' has crumbled. The posterior poition, of about the same 

 length with the anterior, is broken into lamina;; it is flattened at 

 the ba~e, so as to be half an inch longer in one diameter than in 

 the other, making the largest seven inches and a half. The 

 bases are surrounded externally by circular elevations, at first two 

 inch ;s distant from each other, but gradually increasing in dis- 

 tance, until, at abnut two ieet from the extremities of the bases, 

 they disajipear entirely. 



The tusk is composed of lamina; which at the internal ex- 

 tremity of the socket, are not more than a line in thickness. — 

 These laiiiinre increase in number as we advance from the butts, 

 so that where the tusk issues from its socket at the distance of 

 rather more than two feet from the ]iostcrior extremity-, the in- 

 ternal cavity has diminished from seven inches in diameter to two 

 by two and a half. The plates into which the tusk has separat- 

 ed in drying are generally an eighth of an inch in thickness, 

 some of them ueariy an inch. The external surface has a brown 

 apjiearance; the layers which have been recently uncovered are 

 of a lighter color. 



The following anal}'sis of a portion of the tusk has been kind- 

 ly furnished me by Dr. Chas. T. Jackson: 



Anim.al mattter (cartilage), 26-2 



Phosphate and carb. of lime, fluorid of calcium, &c.,. . 69-2 

 Water 4-6 



100-0 

 Glass was etched with the fluorine. The constituents of the 

 tusk are phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, fluorid of c;dcium 

 phosphate of magnesia, soda, sulphur.' 



The laminK at the anterior part of one of the tusks, which is, 

 best preserved, are sujierficially not more than half a line in thick- 

 ness; they are divided or split by longitudimd fissures about 

 three-fourths of an inch apart; and they present none of the cir- 

 cular marks seen at the posterior ex; remity. The point anterior- 

 ly' is woru awa)- for the space of two inches on one side, as is 

 generally found to occur in the tusks of the proboscidian family. 



When the tusks were fii-st discoverid, they lay with their con- 

 vexities outwards, their points approaching each other; having 

 apjiarently turned in their sockets after the soft parts which re- 

 tained them were decomposed so as to loosen their attaelimenls. 

 For the weight of the head inclined the butts downwards, while 

 the resistance of the marl on their inferior an 1 internal sides 

 would give a rotary nioti mi outward and u]iwards to a definite 

 extent. In this direelion they were jil.aced by Dr. Prime, who 

 had an opportunity of observing them in their original p 'sition 

 in the embedding marl. Although the e.\tremitie.s of the butts 

 are somewhat oval, the greater size of Ih.^ir sockets owing to the 

 decomposition of the soft textures which lined them, would readi- 

 ly admit the butts of the tnsks to be placed in any direction ; and 

 considering the apparent inutility and the remarkable anomaly^ 

 of the ]iosition before mentiimed, we thought it right to change 

 their opposing aspect to one more consonant with the character 

 and attitude of the skeleton. 



Tn the pres'^nt specimen of the Mastodon, there are two tusks The Inferior or ^fan<1ihul^r Tush: — The small mandibular 



in the np|ier and one in the lower jaw on the left side. Two tusk h.as been brought into notice of late yeai-s by Dr. Go Iman, 

 undoubtedly existed in the lower jaw, at an early period of life, who considered it as characterizing a new species, to which ho 



