70 The Mammoth and its Epoch. 



THE MAMMOTH AND ITS EPOCH.* 



The discovery of the bodies of enormous animals akin to the 

 elephant in the frozen soil of Siberia has excited the astonish- 

 ment of naturalists and of the vulgar. The primitive nomads 

 regarded them as monstrous burrowing rats, whose life was 

 extinguished as soon as they saw the light of day ; and the 

 Chinese supposed that their subterranean movements gave 

 rise to earthquakes. It has been generally supposed that 

 Siberia had, in the mammoth days, a, much warmer climate ; 

 M. de Middendorff disputes the conclusion, and states that. the 

 wood found in 1ST. Siberia, and supposed to have grown there, 

 is in reality drift-wood. It is also remarked, that the hypo- 

 thesis of former heat in the Siberian climate would not solve 

 the enigma, as it would not explain the good preservation in 

 which the bodies of the great animals has been kept, which 

 would seem only possible in a frozen soil, and the climate 

 could not have changed so suddenly as to leave no time for 

 their decomposition. Besides, the mammoths were well fur- 

 nished with hair, and were not intended, like the modern 

 elephants, to inhabit hot countries. Fir needles have been 

 found between the teeth of rhinoceri,, buried by the side of the 

 mammoth, indicating that the latter may have lived in forests 

 of conifers ; but what was its food in the steppes which are 

 beyond the limits of arborescent vegetation ? M. de Midden- 

 dorif supports the opinion that the bodies of the mammoths 

 were drifted from more southern regions ; but if this- were the 

 case, how is it that their bodies came to be so perfectly pre- 

 served in ice, and how was the congelation effected t Is it 

 possible, as Adams thinks, that they found their sepulture in 

 the midst of pure compact ice, and have been preserved there 

 for millions of years ? 



On the recommendation of M. de Middendorff, the St. 

 Petersburg Academy offered rewards of 100 to 150 roubles for 

 the discovery of a complete mammoth skeleton, and of 300 

 roubles for that of a body with the soft parts entire. At 

 Christmas, J8G5, M. K. C. Von Baer received from Barnaul 

 a notification that a Samoycdo-Jurack had found an entire" 

 mammoth in 186-1, with its skin, near the Bay of Tas, which 

 opens into the Gulf of Obi. 



This discovery, which was mentioned in former numbers of 

 the Intellectual Ohsurver, induced the Academy of St. Peters- 

 burg to send M. Frederic Schmidt to the spot. On the 24th 

 March (last) he arrived at Yenissek, and from thence for- 

 warded a piece of the mammoth's skin, which had been 

 * Abridged from an article in the Archives des Sciences, No. 108. 



