387 



before the Academy, which may tend to enlarge our knowledge 

 of the anatomy of this very interesting animal. 



" One of the earliest dissections of the elephant on record 

 is that which was made in Dublin, in 1682, by A. Moulin, a 

 medical graduate of Trinity College. This animal was destroyed 

 by a fire which accidentally occurred in the city. In the 

 volumes oi the Philosophical Transactions several papers have 

 been published on the anatomy of particular parts of this animal. 

 Camper's description and plates have added much to our know- 

 ledge; but the most complete and concise description is to be 

 found in the Encyclop. Method, vol. iii. p. 173. In Cuvier's 

 system of comparative anatomy several of its peculiarities are 

 noticed ; and in his splendid work, Ossemens Fossiles, tom. i. 

 p. 12, its osteology has been minutely and carefully described. 



" The subject of this examination was an Indian or Asiatic 

 elephant, one of the family of the Pachi/dermata, which may 

 be regarded as a distinct genus, under the name of probosci- 

 dean, as no other animal possesses the true and perfect pro- 

 boscis or trunk. Of this genus there are only two living 

 species, the Asiatic and the African, which are distinguished 

 by certain well-marked differences : the head of the Asiatic is 

 large and oblong, the forehead concave, the external ears 

 small, and the molar teeth present undulating transverse 

 ridges of enamel, which are the separations of the laminae 

 which compose them, worn down by trituration ; the head of 

 the African is round and smaller, the forehead convex, and the 

 ears very large, and the molar teeth are marked with lozenge- 

 shaped ridges of enamel. 



*' The present animal was not full grown ; he was supposed 

 to be nine or ten years of age, was about six feet high, and 

 six and a half from the top of the head to the root of the tail ; 

 he had latterly increased considerably in height and size, had 

 always enjoyed perfect health until within a few days of his 

 death, which was the result of an acute fever. No organic 

 disease could be detected in any part of his system. 



" The large expanse of forehead, the peculiar expression of 



