§ 16. FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 147 



and functions of the diversified forms of animal life. In 

 short, that the Author of nature has by these changes varied 

 the same general fabric in innumerable ways, bestowed 

 upon it a thousand different instincts and passions, and 

 adapted it to every element and climate, and to every 

 possible variety of food and mode of existence ; and it is 

 by a profound knowledge of these principles of the cor- 

 relation of the different parts of every organized creature, 

 that the scientific observer is enabled to reconstruct the 

 forms of extinct animals. 



TTe may now enter upon that department of geology 

 called Paleontology, or the science which treats of the 

 fossil remains of the beings which inhabited our planet in 

 former ages. 



16. Fossil elephants, &c. — As the bones and teeth 

 are the least perishable parts of the animal structure, they 

 are in general the only indications of the characters of the 

 ancient mammalia. Occasionally very delicate parts, such 

 as the tunic of the eye, the membranes of the stomach, the 

 hair and integuments of the skin, &c. are preserved in a 

 fossil state, examples of which we shall hereafter adduce. 

 In the older rocks, the bones are generally mineralized, 

 and no longer possess the white and glossy appearance of 

 the recent skeleton ; but those which occur in superficial 

 gravel, and in caverns, are commonly of a porous and 

 earthy character, like bones that have lost a portion of 

 their animal matter by being buried in a dry and loose 

 soil. 



The fossil bones and teeth we have now to examine are 

 separable into two classes, namely, those which occur in the 

 gravel, marl, &c, of the drift and alluvial deposits, and 

 those buried in fissures and caverns. The former are 

 principally referable to herbivorous pachyderms and rumi- 

 nants; the latter to carnivora. 



I will first take a brief review of the remains of the 

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