5N OX THE REVOLUTIONS OF 



But, we may be asked, what two-horned animal could give the idea 

 of the oryx, and present the features which are given of its conforma- 

 tion, even in depriving it of its unity of horn ? I reply with Pallas, it 

 is the horned antelope, improperly called the pasan by Buffon. It in- 

 habits the deserts of Africa, and would have reached the confines of 

 Egypt ; it is that which the hieroglyphics seem to represent ; its 

 figure is nearly that of the stag ; its height equals that of the ox ; the 

 hair of its back is directed towards the head ; its horns are formidable 

 weapons, sharp as darts, hard as iron ; its hair is whitish, its counte 

 nance has marks and black streaks ,- and this is all that naturalists 

 have described of it ; and, as to the motives of the priests of Egypt, 

 who spread abroad fables concerning it, and adopted it in their hiero- 

 glyphics, there is no occasion for their having a foundation in reality. 

 Suppose then that an oryx with only one horn has been seen ; that 

 they have taken it for a perfect being, a type of its whole species ; 

 suppose that Aristotle, who adopted this error, has been copied by 

 others ; it is all possible, and even natural, but proves nothing in fa- 

 vour of the existence of an unicorn species. 



As to the ass of the Indies, we have only to read of the anti-poison- 

 ous properties attributed to its horn by the ancients, and we shall see 

 that they are precisely similar to those which the orientals of the pre- 

 sent day assign to the horn of the rhinoceros. When the horn was 

 first introduced amongst the Greeks, they could not have known the 

 animal which had borne it. Indeed, Aristotle makes no mention of 

 the rhinoceros, and Agatharchides is the first who has described it. 

 In the same manner, the ancients possessed ivory long before they be- 

 came acquainted with the elephant. Perhaps some traveller may 

 have named the rhinoceros the ass of the Indies, with as much justice 

 as the Romans had named the elephant the bull of Lucania. All that 

 has been said of the strength, height, and ferocity of the wild ass, 

 agrees very well with the rhinoceros. Moreover, those who best 

 know the rhinoceros, finding in former authors the denomination of 

 ass of the Indies, have taken it, without reflexion, for that of a peculiar 

 animal; and, in fact, from the name, we should conclude that this 

 animal was solid-footed. There is a full description of an ass of the 

 Indies by Ctesias*, but we have seen above that it was taken from 

 the bas-reliefs of Persepolis ; it should not pass for anything in the 

 actual history of the animal. 



When there was also a description still less exact, which men- 

 tioned an animal with a single horn with many lines, a third species 

 was made out, with the name of monocei*os. These sort of twofold 



/Elian, Anim. iv. 52 ; Photius, Bibl. p. 154. 



