Chaf. III.] THE ELEPHANT. 



123 



stomach were observed at an early period, and even their 

 configuration described, the function of the abnormal 

 portion remained undetermined, and has been only re- 

 cently conjectured. An elephant which belonged to 

 Louis XIV. died at Versailles in 1681 at the age of 

 seventeen, and an account of its dissection was published 

 in the Memoires pour servir a VHistoire Natuvelle, 

 under the authority of the Academy of Sciences, in 

 which the unusual appendages of the stomach are pointed 

 out with sufficient particularity, but no suggestion is 

 made as to their probable uses." 1 



attaching to the elephant in all 

 ages, yet has its body been hitherto 

 very little subjected to anatomical 

 inquiries;" and he laments that the 

 rapid decomposition of the carcase, 

 and other causes, had interposed 

 obstacles to the scrutiny of the sub- 

 ject he was so fortunate as to find 

 access to. 



In 1723 Dr. Wm. Stuckley pub- 

 lished Some Anatomical Observa- 

 tions made upon the Dissection of an 

 Elephant; but each of the above 

 essays is necessarily unsatisfactory, 

 and little has since been done to 

 supply their defects. One of the 

 latest and most valuable contribu- 

 tions to the subjects, is a paper read 

 before the Eoyal Irish Academy, on 

 the 18th of Feb., 1847, by Profes- 

 sor Harrison, who had the oppor- 

 tunity of dissecting an Indian 

 elephant which died of acute fever; 

 but the examination, so far as hehas 

 made it public, extends only to the 

 cranium, the brain, and the probos- 

 cis, the larynx, trachea, and oeso- 

 phagus. An essential service would 

 be rendered to science if some 

 sportsman in Ceylon, or some of the 

 officers connected with the elephant 

 establishment there, would take the 

 trouble to forward the carcase of a 



young one to England in a state fit 

 for dissection. 



Postscriptum. — I am happy to 

 say that a young elephant, carefully 

 preserved in spirits, has recently been 

 obtained in Ceylon, and forwarded to 

 Prof. Owen, of the British Museum, 

 by the joint exertions of M. Diard 

 and Major Skinner. An oppor- 

 tunity has thus been afforded from 

 which science will reap advantage, 

 of devoting a patient attention to 

 the internal structure of this in- 

 teresting animal. 



1 The passage as quoted by Buf- 

 fon from the Memoires is as follows : 

 — "L'estomac avoit peu de dia- 

 metre ; il en avoit moins que le 

 colon, car son diametre n' etoit que 

 de quatorze pouces dans la partie la 

 plus large ; il avoit trois pieds et 

 demi de longueur : 1' orifice superi- 

 eur etoit a-peu-pres aussi eloigne 

 du pylore que du fond du grand 

 cul-de-sac qui se terminoit en une 

 pointe compos ee de tuniques beau- 

 coup plus epaissesque celles du reste 

 de l'estomac; il y avoit au fond du 

 grand cul-de-sac plusieurs feuillets 

 epais d'une ligne, larges d'un pouce 

 et demi, et disposes irregulierement; 

 le reste de parois interieures etoit 

 perce de plusieurs petits trous et 



