122 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. III. 
the water with his trunk without disturbing the sur- 
rounding sand. 
I have reason to believe, although the fact has not been 
authoritatively stated by naturalists, that the stomach of 
the elephant will be found to include a section analogous 
to that possessed by some of the ruminants, calculated 
to contain a supply of water as a provision against 
emergencies. The fact of his being enabled to retain a 
quantity of water and discharge it at pleasure has been 
long known to every observer of the habits of the 
animal; but the proboscis has always been supposed to 
be " his water-reservoir," 1 and the theory of an internal 
receptacle has not been discussed. The truth is that the 
anatomy of the elephant is even yet but imperfectly 
understood 2 , and, although some peculiarities of his 
1 Beodeeep's Zoological Recrea- 
tions, p. 259. 
£ 2 For observing the osteology of 
the elephant, materials are of course 
abundant in the indestructible re- 
mains of the animal : but the study 
of the intestines, and the dissection 
of the softer parts by comparative 
anatomists in Europe, have been up 
to the present time beset by difficul- 
ties. These arise not alone from the 
rarity of subjects, but even in eases 
where elephants have died in these 
countries, decomposition inter- 
poses, and before the thorough ex- 
amination of so vast a body can be 
satisfactorily completed, the great 
mass falls into putrefaction. 
The principal English authorities 
are An Anatomical Account of the 
Elephant accidentally burnt in 
Dublin, by A. Moeynexjx, a.d. 
1696 ; which is probably a reprint 
of a letter on the same subject in 
the library of Trinity College, Dub- 
lin, addressed by A. Moulin, to Sir 
"William Petty, Lond. 1682. There 
are also some papers communicated 
to Sir Hans Sloane, and afterwards 
published in the Philosophical 
Transactions of the year 1710, by 
Dr. P. Blair, who had an opportu- 
nity of dissecting an elephant 
which died at Dundee in 1708. 
The latter writer observes that, 
" notwithstanding the vast interest 
