XXXI 
IVORY 
393 
tusk is repaired by tlie formation of secondary dentine, 
and the offending body is encapsuled by the same 
material. As the tusk advances in its socket, the 
bullet is gradually incorporated in solid ivory. The 
thorough way in which a bullet may be embedded in 
the solid part of an elephant’s tusk, and no mark 
betray it, is proved by the fact that one has been found 
in a billiard ball. Such a specimen is preserved 
in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
England. 
These things happened in the days of muskets and 
black powder : the introduction of tlie ride and high 
velocity bullets has completely changed elejjhant- 
shooting. African elephants are often killed by a 
single well-placed bullet. Compare this with the 
description of the shooting of the famous elephant 
Chunee in 1826 at Exeter Change, a wild beast show 
off the Strand near the Lyceum. Chunee became 
dangerous and a detachment of infantry was employed 
to kill him : one hundred bullets were fired into the 
wretched animal for this purpose. The skeleton of this 
elephant is preserved in the museum of the Royal 
College of Surgeons, England. When the skull was 
examined after the skeleton had been macerated a large 
abscess was found at the root of one of the teeth, which 
partly accounted for the trouble Chunee caused the 
keepers. 
When we reflect on the agony human beings suffer in 
consequence of an abscess in the pulp of a molar tooth, 
it appears difficult to estimate the suffering endured 
by an elej^hant when the pulp of a tusk is inflamed. 
It is possible for a solid body to enter the pulp 
chamber without penetrating the wall of the tusk. The 
open end of the tusk looks upwards, and as the natives 
have a way, among others, of killing elephants by 
dropping a heavy loaded spear upon them from a tree, 
or as the result of a trap, it sometimes happens that 
the spear penetrates the open end of the tusk and is 
