62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



I am at a loss where to assign it a station among those of the skeleton. 

 . . . I have been particular in stating the relative situations and dis- 

 tances of those places in which bones have been discovered, from a cer- 

 tain point, to show, from the small district in which many discoveries have 

 been made, the great probability that these animals must have been very 

 numerous in this part of the country, for if we compare the small propor- 

 tion that swamps, in which only they are found, bear to the rest of the 

 surface, and the very small proportion that those parts of such swamps 

 as have yet been explored, bear to the whole of such swamps, the prob- 

 able conclusion is, that they must once have existed here in great num- 

 bers. And why Providence should have destroyed an animal or species 

 it once thought proper to create, is a matter of curious inquiry and difficult 

 solution. If, however, they were voracious, it must appear happy for the 

 human race that they are extinct, by whatever means. 



The hair above mentioned seems to prove that it was not the elephant, 

 or, if it was, that it must have been of a species or variety widely different 

 from any known at present. 



A letter by Sylvanus Miller relating to this mastodon, which was 

 written 10 days later than Graham's, was also addressed to Doctor 

 Mitchill and published in the same volume of the Medical Re- 

 pository (page 211-12). In his letter Miller says: 



On my arrival at Newburgh, I was informed, that about 12 miles to the 

 westward of that place had lately been discovered the skeleton of an animal 

 of uncommon magnitude, and decidedly larger than that of any of which . 

 we have at this time any knowledge. . . . The bones here discovered 

 lay buried about 10 feet under this marie and earth, which generally con- 

 sists of five different strata — the first is the common earth found in low 

 meadows; the second a very black and rich earth, and is deemed good for 

 manure; the third a small stratum of blue clay; the fourth a stratum <i 

 white marl; and the fifth a stratum of grey or black marl; at or near the 

 bottom of which these bones are discovered, and some of them sunk into 

 the earth some inches below the marl. . . . The bones which were 

 lately discovered appear of the same species, though I think larger, with 

 those found some time since in the same vicinity, and afford a spectacle 

 truly astonishing; they appear little decayed by the lapse of time and their 

 proper places, and names of the several parts of the skeleton, could, I 

 presume, easily be discovered by a person possessing your knowledge in 

 anatomical science. — They are, however, not as yet entirely procured, 

 though great exertions have been made, and are still making, to effect so 

 desirable an object — the difficulty is made much greater by the influx of 

 the water, continually rushing in from the bottom and sides to the hollow 

 already made — there are among the bones found, several of the legs, some 

 of the back bones, several ribs, and the upper part of the head, 16 etc. — one 

 bone of the thigh measures more than 40 inches in circumference round 

 the joint, and 36 inches on the cylindrical part of the bone, and is nearly 

 5 feet long; the teeth are nearly 7 inches long, and 4 broad — they are 

 found white, and fast in the jaw, without appearance of decay; the holes 

 in the skull where appear to have been the nostrils, measure nearly 8 

 inches in diameter; the orifice occasioned by the decay of marrow is, in 

 the back bones, 2V2 inches diameter; there are several others of like magni- 

 tude, and seme bones of the foot which shows evident marks that it once 

 had claws. 



The concluding quotations from both Graham's and Miller's let- 

 ters indicate much doubt on the part of these early writers as to 



"The head is thought, by Doctor Graham, to have been as large as an 

 ordinary hogshead. 



