166 
ELEPHANT.. 
to think that that immense tract was in some very 
distant age won from it. With them are mixed 
an infinitely greater number of marine bodies 
than are found in the higher parts of that portion 
©f Asia. I give the fact : let others more favour- 
ed explain the cause how these animals were 
transported from their torrid seats to the arctic 
regions. I should have recourse to the only one 
we have authority for ; and think that pheno- 
menon sufficient. I mention this, because modern 
philosophers look out for a later cause ; I rest con- 
vinced, therefore, to avoid contradicting what 
can never be proved/' 
We must by no means here omit the fossil 
bones, viz. jaws, vertebrae, thigh-bones, and 
tusks, which are often found in some part of 
North America ; they are commonly found about 
five or six feet below the surface, on the banks 
of the river Ohio, not far from the river Miame, 
seven hundred miles from the sea-coast. Of these 
the thigh-bones are much thicker in proportion 
than in the common elephant ; the grinders, or 
side teeth, are very different from those of the 
elephant, and instead of having a flat top with 
numerous transverse scores, as in that animal, 
are pretty deeply lobed, like the teeth of carnivo- 
rous animals ; the tusks bear a great resemblance 
to those of the common elephant, but have an 
inclination to a spiral curve towards the smaller 
end ; in their common texture they perfectly re- 
semble common ivory. It seems, therefore, ex- 
tremely clear, that this animal must have been a 
species differing from the common elephant, but 
greatly resembling it. Whether it may exist in 
any of the unexplored parts of the globe, must 
be left to future investigations to determine. 
These bones are not peculiar to the northern re- 
gions of America, but have also been found in 
