122 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. in. 



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 Broderip's Zoological Eecrea- 

 tions, p. 259. 



I 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 cases 

 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. Molyneux, 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 



