OEDEE OE PACHYDEEMATA. 
115 
which is remarkable for its enormous development of skull. Of all 
the lower animals, the Asiatic Elephant is the one whose head has 
the greatest vertical height in proportion to its horizontal length. 
However, the enormous rising produced at the upper, temporal, 
and posterior part of the skull, is not the result of great 
development of the brain ; it arises simply from there being a 
quantity of broad cells, hollowed out in the substance of the bone. 
The volume of the brain is thus much inferior to that of the 
skull. On the lateral and upper portion of this enormous head 
are two immense thin ears, which extend upwards, backwards, 
and downwards. These the animal moves and flaps about at 
will ; they also serve as a fan against the heat. The eye is small, 
for its globe is not a third of the size of the Bull’s eye, in com- 
parison to the magnitude of the two animals. The mouth is also 
small, and almost entirely hidden behind the tusks and the base 
of the trunk. This trunk, an organ peculiar to the Elephants, is 
merely the nose prolonged in an immoderate length, in the shape 
of a tube, and terminating in the openings of the nostrils. This 
prodigious nasal organ performs the duties of arm and hand.* The 
Elephant’s trunk is, at the same time, an organ of touch, of smell, 
of prehension, and likewise a formidable weapon. In the ordinary 
actions of life, it is an instrument that performs all the functions 
of a hand. It seizes and picks up the smallest objects, as, for 
instance, a piece of money or a straw ; it can uncork a bottle, or 
fire off a pistol. In the natural state, the Elephant makes use of 
it for conveying food to its mouth ; for lifting heavy weights, and 
putting them on its back ; for drinking, by filling it with water, 
and then letting the water pour down its throat. With this 
instrument it defends itself, and attacks others ; it seizes its 
enemies, entwines them in its folds, squeezes them, crushes them, 
and tosses them into the air, or hurls them to the ground, after- 
wards to be trampled under its broad feet. 
The structure of this marvellous organ (the trunk) is very 
I remarkable. It is a conical tube, of an irregular form, very 
elongated, truncated and funnel-shaped at the end. The upper 
side of this trunk is convex, and fluted along its breadth ; the 
lower side is fiat. It is provided with two longitudinal rows of 
* In the Hindustani language, the Elephant is Hat'hi , from hat, a hand, i.e., the 
creature with a hand. — Ed. 
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