35,8 OBSERVATIONS ON THE MAMMOTI?. 



Difficulty of M. Difpan thinks it will be very difficult to reduce the ei- 



efFefts of this ^^^^ ^^ gafeoiis oxide of azote to any general fyftem, as thev 



gas to anygene- vary to confiderably in their operations upon different indivi- 



ra y em. duals, and, what is more fingular, even upon the fameperlon. 



M..D. concludes his paper with an account of an experi- 



. ment to alcertain the effeft of gafeous oxide of azote upon 



animals. 



Experiments on He placed a greenfinch in a veffel of fufficient dimenfions, 



a bird immerfed a,-,^^ f^jigfj it wilh gafeous oxide of azote. At firft, the bird 



of azote. feemcd to fuflfer no inconvenience ; but he foon gradually 



clofed his eyes, and dropped gently on his fide^ as if afteep. 



On being reftored to the pure air, he refumed his feet, with-^ 



out attempting to fly away. About an hour afterwards he was 



fubjected to a fecond trial, and having been fuftered to remain 



longer in the veffel, he was taken out quite dead. 



M.. Difpan thinks it very remarkable that the bird (hould 

 make no effort to efeape, and that he ftiould manifeft no con- 

 vulfive fymptoms, fuch as take place in experiments with 

 other gales. 



XVI. 



ObftTvatlom on the Maumoth, or American Elephant, by zchich 

 it is proved to have been an herbivorous Animal, In a Letter 

 from the Right Reverend BiJIiop Madison.* 



Difcoveiyof a vJ'NE of thofe fads has lately occurred, which the nalu- 

 mammoth hav- ^ahft knows befl how to appreciate, and which I therefore 



ing vegetable _ . . 



remains in its take a pleafure in communicating to you. It is now no longer 

 ftomach. aquefiion, whether the Mammoth was a herbivorous or car-, 



nivorous animal. Human induftry has revealed a fecret, whicb 

 the bofom of the earth had, in vain, attempted to conceal.— 

 In digging a well, near a Salt-Lick, in Wythe-county, Vir- 

 ginia, after penetrating about five feet and a half from the fur- 

 face, the labourers ftruck upon the fiomach of a mammoth. 

 The contents were in a flate of perfefl prelervation^ confifting- 



* To Benjamin Smith Barton, M. D. editor of the Philadel- 

 phia Medical and Phyfical Journal, from which (vol. II.) it is 



tak«n. 



