ON' THE FOSSIL BONKS OF THE ELEPHANT OF THE RUSSIANS. 241 



there is at present in the Royal Museum at Madrid, ivory and bones of 

 elephants found while digging the foundation of the bridge over the 

 Mancanarez. This fact has been communicated to us by Mr. Proust, 

 in a letter to the late Lametheriej inserted in the Journal de Physique 

 of March, 1806. Mr. Dumeril observed in the same museum several 

 fragments of tusks two feet long, portions of thighs, and other bones 

 found near the bridge of Toledo. 



But again, Spain is another of those countries to which the Car- 

 thaginians must have conveyed numerous elephants ; let us then pro- 

 ceed to France, which, as every body knows, received fewer of them 

 than any other country, during the historical ages. 



In fact, whatever might have been the attention bestowed by the 

 Gauls on the elephants that traversed the southern provinces of their 

 country, at the period of Hannibal's passage, they were not the less 

 terrified by those which Domitius ^Enobarbus led thither against the 

 Allobrogians and Auvergnians*. 



But what may nevertheless appear somewhat singular is, that the 

 places where these bones were most anciently found are in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Rhone, and, consequently, in the country through 

 which Hannibal and Domitius must have passed. Hence it would 

 have been easy to attribute these bones to them, but they were at first 

 better pleased with the idea of attributing them to giants. 



In the reign of Charles VII., in 1456, the Rhone laid bare some of 

 these pretended bones of giants at Vivarais, in the barony of Crussal, 

 near the hamlet of Saint Peirat, opposite the town of Valencef . 

 Louis XI, then dauphin, happening to reside at Valence at the time, 

 investigated the authenticity of the fact, and part of the bones were 

 carried to Bourges, by order of Rene, titular king of Naples, and hung 

 up in the church of the Santa Cappella in that city, where they re- 

 mained for a considerable period. ' 



Jean Lemaire, in his Illustrations of Gaul, with the logic of his day, 

 draws from these bones a convincing proof that the house of Tournon 

 is descended from the Trojans. £ 



John Cassanio, in his Treatise on Giants §, mentions a discovery 

 made in the same place, a short time previous to the second Pieligious 

 War, consequently, about the year 1564. Two peasants perceived some 

 large bones protruding from the earth, on the side of a declivity ; they 

 carried them to the neighbouring village, where they were examined 

 by Cassanir, who was then residing at Valence. He was also of opinion 

 that they were the remains of giants ; but the description he gives of one 

 of the teeth is alone sufficient to prove that they were the bones of 

 elephants. It weighed eight pounds, and was a foot long. Its thick- 

 ness was much less, and it retained some roots. The masticating 

 surface was concave, and four fingers broad; there were but twoa 

 them found, and the second was preserved in the neighbouring castle 

 of Charmes. 



* Orosius, book v, c. xiii; and Florus, book iii, c. ii. 



f Fulgosius de diet, factisque Memor. book i, c. vi. 



X Illustrations of Gaul, and Singularities ofTroyes ? p. 289. 



§ Tieatise on Giants, p. 61. 



