THE CHEST AND ORGANS OF RESPIRATION. 
77 
the back of the mouth, and so through the wind-pipe to the lungs. 
These passages are lined throughout with mucous membrane, in the 
uppermost part of which are lodged the nerves concerned in the 
sense of smell. It may conveniently be divided into two parts, 
namely, the muscular portion or trunk, and the osseous or bony. 
The muscular portion or trunk is a most remarkable appendage, 
but is not peculiar to the elephant, as the tapir has a somewhat 
similar organ. It is composed of an intricate arrangement of 
muscles which furnish it with great flexibility, contractility, and 
power, so that its uses are manifold. The animal is enabled to snap- 
off boughs, pull down saplings, pluck up bunches of grass and 
herbs — in fact, on his trunk depends his life, since both food and 
drink are ingested through its aid. He can employ it to lift and 
drag light weights. An elephant will not use his trunk either for 
offence, defence, or work where there is any probability of this 
extremely sensitive and essential organ sustaining any injury, and this 
is exemplified by the w^ay in which he curls up the organ after the 
manner of a watch-spring, and raises his head when in the act of 
charging, and not free and uplifted as often represented in many 
pictures. 
At the extremity of the trunk the anterior part is developed into 
a finger-like structure, which is capable of being approximated to the 
posterior wall. By means of this process he is able to pick up 
articles of small size, but not to the extent that he has been popularly 
credited with. Its contractility is shown by his power of shortening 
and lengthening this organ and, as will be again referred to on some 
future page, this contractility, by causing a shrivelling of the trunk, 
often serves as a valuable indication of ill-health. Again, it is 
through the muscular character of its walls that he is able to dilate 
the canals and increase their capacity during the act of suction. 
This muscular mechanism is supplied by the seventh pair of nerves 
which are unusually developed in this animal and hence accounts for 
its power, varied and complicated mobility. The skin covering the 
trunk is soft and pliable, and that in the posterior region is puckered 
into a series of transverse ridges, giving it a permanent roughness 
which materially aids in the tenacity of its grip. It is also the 
medium through which this organ is endowed with one of its most 
important uses, for it is in the deeper layers of the skin that the 
elements of the sense of touch are lodged. It is supplied by the 
fifth pair of nerves which are also unusually developed in the elephant 
and accounts for its exquisite sensibility. 
The canals are two in number and lie nearer to the front of the 
organ. They are of about the same calibre throughout, and are 
lined by mucous membrane. They are capable of a certain amount 
