C 35 ] 
We had information from Mufcovy, that the in- 
habitants of Siberia believed them to be the bones 
of the mammouth, an animal of which they told 
and believed ft range ftories. But modern philofo- 
phers have held the mammouth to be as fabulous as 
the centaur. 
Of late years the fame fort of tufks and teeth, 
with fome other large bones, have been found, in 
confiderable numbers, near the banks of the Ohio, 
in North America. The French Academicians be- 
came poflefled of fome fpecimens of them ; and 
having compared them with the bones of real ele- 
phants, and with thole which had been brought to 
France from Siberia, and with fimilar bones found 
ill various other parts, determined, with an appearance 
of probability on their fide, that they were ele- 
phants bones. 
Monlieur Buffon gives us the following account of 
this decifion a : “ All this put together, leaves us 
“ no longer any room to doubt, that thofe tufks 
cc ( defenfcs ) , and thofe large bones (ojfemensj, are 
11 truly the tufks and bones of the elephant. 
tc M. Sloane had faid this, but had not proved it. 
cc M. Gmelin has likewife faid fo, and more politively ; 
a “ Tous cela reuni, fait que nous ne doutons plus que ces 
“ defenfes Sc ces ollemens ne foient en efl'et des defenfcs Sc des 
“ offemens d’elephant. M. Sloane l’avoit dit, mais ne l’avoit 
“ pas prouve. M. Gmelin 1’a dit encore plus affirmativement, & 
“ ii nous adonne fur cela des faits curieux ; mais M. Daubenton 
“ nous paroit etre le premier, qui ait mis la chofe hors de doute, 
“ par des mefures precifes, des comparaifons exadtes, & des 
“ raifons fondees fur les grandes connoiflances qu’il s’eft ac- 
“ quifes dans la fcience de l’anatomie comparee.” Hift. Na- 
turelle, Tom. XL p. 87. 
“ and 
