2900 Quadrupeds 



Remarks on the Accuracy of the Representations of Animals on 

 Greek and Roman Coins, and on the Colours of Paintings in 

 Ancient Tombs. By the Rev. James Smith. 



With respect to the beauty of ancient Greek and Roman coins there 

 is but one opinion ; and it seems to be admitted that the coinage 

 even of those kingdoms which, in modern ages, have made the great- 

 est advances in civilization and refinement, will bear no comparison 

 with them as works of art. But it is not only as surpassing speci- 

 mens of artistic skill, and of the perception of beauty, that these ob- 

 jects are remarkable. No one will deny that they are of infinite 

 importance in the illustration of history, and in the preservation of 

 features, upon which, but for them, we should never have had it in 

 our power to look. And, in addition to this, it is conceived that they 

 may sometimes be of consequence even in connection with natural 

 science. J have been led to make this last remark by the examina- 

 tion of a silver coin, which I have in my possession, of Caius Julius 

 Csesar. This coin, as appears from the emblems on the reverse, was 

 most likely struck when that extraordinary man was connected with 

 the office of Pontifex Ma.vimus. It is said that, in the language of 

 Phoenicia and consequently of Carthage, the word Ccesar signified an 

 Elephant ; and hence, on the obverse of the coin of which I am 

 speaking, there appears the figure of that animal. He is represented 

 walking along with upraised trunk ; and, on the same line and in front 

 of him, there is also the figure of a serpent. On the exergue is the 

 word C A E S AR in capital letters. It is all but certain that, in the 

 time of Julius Caesar, it was the elephant of Africa {Elephas Africa- 

 nus) that was alone known to the Romans. Modern naturalists, and 

 especially Cuvier, have conclusively shown that this elephant is spe- 

 cifically distinct from that of India, the Elephas Indicus of authors. 

 And the distinction is not only well marked in the dentition, and in 

 other parts of the internal structure, but it is at once recognizable in 

 the outward configuration. The head of the African elephant is 

 lower than that of the Indian and not so pointed ; and, in the former, 

 the flaps* of the ears are excessively developed, — those in the Indian 

 elephant being comparatively small and differing also in outline. 



* I think I have seen it mentioned somewhere that, in certain parts of Southern 

 Africa, the natives are in the custom of using these flaps as a sort of basket, or rather 

 truck, for the conveyance of materials. 



