i 
THE STORY OF THE ELEPHANTS 271 
j imagination, like the dragon, for he has actually been seen in the 
I flesh, and not only seen, but eaten, both by men and animals ! 
But, for all that, men’s minds have been busy for centuries past 
making up tales, often of the wildest description, about him ; and 
' it is little wonder that a creature whose bones are found in the 
soils and gravels, etc., over more than half the world, and whose 
: body has been seen frozen in Siberian ice, should have given rise 
to many tales and superstitions. To students of folk-lore these 
; legends are of considerable interest, and to some extent also to 
men of science. To the latter, however, one of its many points 
of interest is that palsBontology may be said to have been founded 
; on the Mammoth. Cuvier, the illustrious founder of the science 
of organic remains, was enabled, by his accurate and minute 
knowledge of the structures of living animals, to prove to his 
Ij astonished contemporaries that the Mammoth bones and teeth, 
' so plentifully discovered in Europe, were not such as could have 
j belonged to any living elephant, and consequently that there 
i must have existed, at some previous period in the world’s history, 
an elephant of a different kind, and quite unknown to naturalists. 
I This was a new idea, and accordingly one that met with opposition 
; as well as incredulity. 
: It was thought in those days that whatever animals lived in the 
’ past must have resembled those now inhabiting the world, and 
the idea of extinct types unknown to man, and unknown to the 
regions where their bones were found embedded below the soil, 
ii was of so novel and startling a character as to appear incredible. 
’ Besides, the Mosaic account of Creation made no direct reference to 
I extinct animals, and therefore the notion was not to be entertained ! 
of Job signifies an unknown animal. In an ancient Chinese work, of the fifth 
century before Christ, it is spoken of under the name tien-schu, that is to say, 
! “ the mouse which hides itself.” 
