NEBULA TO MAN 
Yet in these times some record may we glean 350 
Of brute life there, at least on Egypt's scene. 
Here big skulled, thick skinned creatures meet the eye 
That time may prove to be the ancestry 
Of Elephants ; and truly they appear 
Elephants " in the making " as it were. 355 
From out their upper jaws are curving down 
Two canine teeth to tusky status grown ; 
Whilst other tusks, curved slightly upward, grow 
From massive framework in the jaw below. 
And though the brutes can get the head to ground, 360 
And dig the earth, uprooting plants around, 
Yet nose and upper lip that seem contriving 
To launch a trunk, may change their mode of living. 
And then in time are other forms seen here, 
Whose upper tusks less downward curved appear, 365 
The while the tusks, set in the jaw beneath, 
Shoot straight ahead, right angled to the teeth. 
But foremost framework in the jaw below 
Will have, in time, great change to undergo, 
To allow the trunk to freer use to grow. 370 
Here too " Arsinoitheria " giants are found, 
Great thick skinned beasts, whose blocky heads are crowned 
With fearsome horns. But though their skulls be great 
And grim adorned, brains scarce proportionate 
n 4 
