352 
prevented them from committing the tusks to the earth, lead to the 
belief that by far the greater number of these remains which have been 
dug up, have been deposited here, not by the hands of man, but by 
the changes which, at least, the surface of this globe has undergone, 
at very remote periods. The circumstances, indeed, under which 
many of these have been found, afford indubitable proof of this fact. 
In France, where it is well known that living elephants have been 
much less frequent, at least in times of which we have any record, 
than either in Italy or in Greece, their fossil remains have been found 
in a great number of places, and in situations which prove their de- 
position at a very remote period. The whole valley through which 
the Rhine passes, yields fragments of this animal, and perhaps more 
numerously on the side of Germany than on that of France. Not 
only in its course, but in the alluviee of the several streams which 
empty themselves into it, are these fossil remains also found. Thus 
Holland abounds with them, and even the most elevated parts of the 
Batavian Republic are not exempt from them. 
The whole of Germany and of Switzerland appear to particularly 
abound in these wonderful relics. The greater number which has 
been found in these parts is, perhaps, as is observed by M. Cuvier, 
not attributable to their greater abundance, but to the number of well- 
informed men, capable of making the necessary researches, and of 
reporting the interesting facts they discover. 
As in the banks of the Rhine, so in those of the Danube, do these 
fossils abound. In the valley of Altmuhl is a grand deposit of these 
remains. The bones which have been found at Krembs, in Sweden ; 
at Baden, near Vienna ; in Moravia ; in different parts of Hungary 
and of Transylvania ; at the foot of the Hartz ; in Hesse ; at Hilders- 
heim ; all appear to be referable to this animal. So also are those 
which are found on the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. Different 
parts of the British empire are not less productive of these remains. 
In London, Brentford, Harwich, Norwich, Gloucestershire, Staf- 
