Wild Beasts 



ing to extol the benevolence of a being who, if otherwise 

 constituted, might have done so much harm. 



Oriental, classic, mediaeval, and modern superstitions 

 cluster about the elephant. Pliny and iElian often seem 

 to be mocking at popular credulity. " Valet sensu et reli- 

 quA sagacitate ingenii excellit elephas" says Aristotle, and 

 Strabo writes in the same strain. One might nearly as 

 well take the verses of Martial for a text-book as seek 

 information among those errors and extravagancies of antiq- 

 uity which Vartomannus brought to a climax. 



It is no longer said that elephants who, to use Colonel 

 Barras' words ("India and Tiger Hunting"), "are practi- 

 cally sterile in captivity," are so because of their modesty, 

 or that this is attributable to a nobleness of soul which 

 prevents them from propagating a race of slaves. Men 

 would now be ashamed to say they are monotheists, and 

 retire to solitudes to pray. But so little of comparative 

 psychology is known, and the side lights which other 

 sciences throw upon zoology are so much disregarded, 

 that no hesitation is felt at comparing them with human 

 beings, or measuring the faculties and feelings of a beast 

 by standards set up in civilized society. 



The elephant is a social animal ; in all herds the units 

 are family groups where several generations are often 

 represented, and when the larger aggregate dissolves, it 

 separates into family groups again. With this statement, 

 anything like unanimity of opinion among authorities upon 

 elephants is at an end. 



It is said that years bring moroseness upon elephants, 

 and that any evil tendencies they exhibit in youth are 



