5^ 



animals were intermixed with each other; nor 

 was it satisfactorily proved until the dis- 

 covery of these skeletons in the state of New- 

 York, in both instances unaccompanied with 

 any extraneous bones. 



It was owing to the discovery of tusks, with 

 these bones, that so much has been said about 

 their being elephantine : but they are totally 

 different in their form, substance, and po- 

 sition : the Elephant's tusk is nearly straight, 

 and therefore part of a very large circle ; a 

 very long tusk of the Mammoth forms the 

 half of a circle of much smaller diameter, be- 

 sides having a peculiar twist or spiral form. 

 Transverse sections of the Elephant's tusk 

 constantly yield the oval figure -, those of the 

 Mammoth are perfectly round. The Elephant's 

 tusks are uniform ivory; those of the Mam- 

 moth are of two distinct substances, the inter- 

 nal part having the texture of, but a much 

 softer consistence than, ivory ; the outer part 

 not having the texture of, and actually harder 

 than, ivory, forming a very thick shell over 

 the whole tusk. At first I imagined that the 

 internal part had been true ivory, which had 



