386 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE, 
CHAPTER XIII. 
ELEPHANT. 
The intelligence of the elephant is no doubt considerable, 
although there is equally little doubt that it is generally 
exaggerated. Some of the most notorious instances of 
the display of remarkable sagacity by this animal are 
probably fabulous, or at least are not sufficiently corrobo- 
rated to justify belief. Such, for instance, is the cele- 
brated story told by Pliny with all the assurance of a 
6 certum estj 1 and repeated by Plutarch , 2 of the elephant, 
who having been beaten for not dancing properly, was 
afterwards found practising his steps alone in the light of 
the moon. Although this story cannot, in the absence of 
corroboration, be accepted as fact, we ought to remember, 
in connection with it, that many talking and piping ffirds 
unquestionably practise in solitude the accomplishments 
which they desire to learn. 
Quitting, however, the enormous multitude of anec- 
dotes, more or less doubtful, and which may or may not 
be true, I shall select a few well-authenticated instances 
of the display of elephant intelligence. 
Memory . 
As regards memory, several cases are on record of 
tamed elephants having become wild, and, on again being 
captured after many years, returning to all their old 
habits under domestication. Mr. Corse publishes in 
the 6 Philosophical Transactions ? 3 an instance which came 
under his own notice. He saw an elephant, which 
1 PlirLo, Hist. Nat., viii. 1— Id. 2 De Solert. Anim c. 12. 
9 Philosojjliical Transactions, 1799, p. 40. 
