Chap, III.] 



THE ELEPHANT. 



95 



All the elephant hunters and natives to whom I have 

 spoken on the subject, concur in opinion that its range 

 of vision is circumscribed, and that it relies more on its 

 ear and sense of smell than on its sight, which is liable 

 to be obstructed by dense foliage ; besides which, from 

 the formation of its short neck, the elephant is incapable 

 of directing the range of the eye much above the level 

 of the head. 1 



The elephant's small range of vision is sufficient to 

 account for its excessive caution, its alarm at unusual 

 noises, and the timidity and panic exhibited at trivial 



1 After writing the above, I was 

 permitted by the late Dr. Harri- 

 son, of Dublin, to see some accurate 

 drawings of the brain of an ele- 

 phant, which he had the opportu- 

 nity of dissecting in 1847 ; and on 

 looking to that of the base, I have 



found a remarkable verification of 

 the information which I collected 

 in Ceylon. 



The small figure A is the gan- 

 glion of the fifth nerve, showing 

 the small motor and large sensitive 

 portion. 



Olfactory lobes— large. 



• Optic nerve — small. 



Third pair — small. 



■ Fourth pair — small. 



■The two portions of the fifth pair, the sensi- 

 tive portion very large, for the proboscis. 



■ Sixth pair — small. 



"Seventh pair— portio dura, or motor, very 

 large for proboscis. 



The olfactory lobes, from which 

 the olfactory nerves proceed, are 

 large, whilst the optic and muscular 

 nerves of the orbit are singularly 

 small for so vast an animal ; and 

 one is immediately struck by the 

 prodigious size of the fifth nerve, 



which supplies the proboscis with 

 its exquisite sensibility, as well as 

 by the great size of the motor por- 

 tion of the seventh, which supplies 

 the same organ with its power of 

 movement and action. 



