Albany in 1705, so that New York may, perhaps, 
be regarded ns his headquarters; but, as he 
ranged to Hudson’s Bay, to California and to 
Mexico, 
uppermost; and, as the softer part wears away, 
it leaves the enamel exposed in a series of ridges 
somewhat like a wash-board. Fig. 2 shows the 
upper or grinding surface ot an elephant’s tooth. 
Fig. 3 gives a side view of one as it is placed in 
the jaw, the front being turned to the right. 
a is the worn surface that meets the opposing 
tooth and crushes the tood. bb are the roots, 
through which the life ot the tooth is sustained. 
As the enamel is worn away the tooth at the 
(blit Hfiiifluft 
future excavations may prove 
other locality more rich in 
The antiquity of the Mastodon has been the 
subject of considerable inquiry. The swamp in 
Orange county where one was mired is still a 
trenehcrouB place where catile have recently been 
lost. The salt licks of Kentucky, where many 
teeth and hones are found, were yet the resort of 
doer and other wild animals when they were 
reuched by the white man. [.tell says that the 
cataract of Niagara has receded four miles at 
least since certain bones wore deposited on its 
hank, and it now wears back only a few inches 
in a year. The Cohoes skeleton, naturally buried 
eighty-five feet under the earth, probably lay for 
still longer ages. It is the general belief that the 
race existed for ft long period, disappearing (as 
geologisls reckon time) not long ago; and the 
strongest evidence wc have that it was not at 
last coeval with ours, is the negative one that 
A TRAGIC STORY 
his remains 
c>. rpnn ., axd Addresses delivered in the Congress 
n f the United States, and on several public occa- 
cions by Henry Winter Dans of Maryland, pre¬ 
yed by a Sketch of his Life, Public Services and 
Character, being an Oration by the Hon, J. A. J. 
<'ressWKI-E, U. S. Senator from Maryland. With 
Note*. Introductory and Explanatory. [8vo, pp. 
595.] New York: Harper A Brothers. 
Speeches seldom read well. The orator is obliged 
to put each thought, into an abundance of words, that 
the hearer may comprehend it before he passes to the 
next; bet he who writes for print may be as concise 
as he pleases, and his readers may each take hiB own 
time. Thus it often happens that we wonder how 
celebrated orators have been so famous and powerful 
In their day, if all we know of them is from reading 
their speeches. Mr. Davts was a statesman of strong 
convictions and stood bravely by the canBe of liberty 
and union in its darkest hours and on its most danger¬ 
ous battle-ground. His epeecbes which are gathered 
into this volume exhibit wide reading, genuiue schol¬ 
arship and close reasoning, and are among the few 
that are readable. They are valuable also as histori¬ 
cal documents. For sale by Steele & Avert. 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker, 
THE AMERICAS MASTODON. 
BT WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY 
There lived a sage in days of yore, 
And he a handsome pigtail wore; 
But wondered much and sorrowed more, 
Because it hung behind him. 
lie mused upon this curious case, 
And swore he’d change the pigtail’s place. 
And have it hanging at his face, 
Not dangling there behind hbn. 
Says he, “The mystery I've found: 
I’ll turn me round.” Ho turned him round, 
But still it, hung behind him. 
Then round and round, and out and in, 
All day the puzzled sage did spiu ; 
In vain—it mattered not a pin— 
The pigtail hang behind him. 
And right, ami left, and round about, 
And up and down and in and out, 
He turned; but Btlll the pigtail Btout 
Hung steadily behind him. 
An d though his efTorts never slack. 
And though he twist, and twirl, and tack, 
Alas I still faithful to his back, 
The pigtail bangs behind him. 
[P'rom the Herman of ChamUeo. 
BT G. K. GILBERT 
The recent discovery ol the entire skeleton of 
a Mastodon at Cohoes, anl the general interest 
felt by the public, in the nutter, will perhaps war¬ 
rant a brief description ot this ancient denizen 
of our forests. Though be has left us only his 
bones for examination, it requires no especial 
acumen to infer his form and habits, for in all 
essential particulars they are the bones of an 
elephant, and there iB such a dependence of the 
forms of ail animals upon tbj forms of their skel¬ 
etons that the former can always bo deduced from 
the latter. There are as mary bones in the foot 
of the elephant as in the feet of other animals, 
••Swwim Romm the Cirkle." By Petroleum 
Naabv, late Pastor of the Church of the New Dis¬ 
pensation, Chaplain to His Excellency the President 
and P M. at Confederate W Roads. Kentucky. His 
Ideas of Men, Politics and Things, as set torth in 
hi* Letters to the public press, during the year 1866. 
Illustrated by Thomas Na&t, [l6mo.—pp. 299,J 
Boston: Lee & Shepard. 
It is perhaps a debatable question whether it is not 
carrying “our glorious freedom" a little too far to 
satirize 60 elaborately the man who, by the theory of 
our government, springs from the people and repre¬ 
sents their will, and then to put the satire Into per¬ 
manent form for preservation. On the other hand, it 
may be said that no penalty is too severe to hold over 
the head of every man intrusted with such tremen¬ 
dous power as is lodged in the hands of the President 
of the United States. But whatever may be the di¬ 
versity of opinion in this respect, few will deny that 
the Nasby letters, which have been copied and read 
from one end of the land to the other, are most admi¬ 
rable political satires, and exhibit a humorous faculty 
for beyond that of any of our kakographist* , Artemns 
not excepted. Sold by Felton Bros., Central Depot. 
is all worn away. But before it ia quite gone an- 
other tooth has appeared behind, it in the same 
groove to share its work, and eventually take its 
place. In this manner six grinders succeed one 
another, so that, although in each side of each 
jaw he uses only one, or at most, two teeth, bis 
full complement from first to last is twenty-tour. 
The teeth of the Mastodon arc advanced in much 
the. same manner, except that there are always 
two, and sometimes three, ot the six successive 
molars in use at once. The subject of teeth is 
but a dry one for the general reader, but is one 
of transcendent importance to the naturalist. | c i iWS to that one 
For the Creator has adapted the teeth of all ani 
A PRIZE GENTLEMAN, 
has recently given to one of our American col¬ 
leges five thousand dollars, the interest of which 
is to be appropriated annually to the purchase 
of a gold modal to be voted by the graduating 
of their number who shall 
have been most worthy the name of gentleman 
rnals to their food, making them into chisels for throughout his course. The idea of offering a 
the nut-plereing squirrel, hooks and knives for premium on courtesy and measuring dignity for 
the flesh-devouring lion, shears for the grass-crop- a prize is a novel one; and the Intention of the 
ping ox, needles for the insect-catching mole and donor of this medal ia unquestionably good. A 
bat, and mill-stones for the twig-eating Masto- little more attention to the ease and comfort of 
don. And from no one bone can* so much be those around him, a little more care In the ad- 
lcarned of the habits of an animal as from Iris jnatmont of his conversation, a little less of self¬ 
teeth. Moreover, the hardness of teeth often absorption and jesting brusquencss, would be a 
preserves them from the decay which removes great improvement on Young America. If the 
the rest of the. skeleton, and tlras their numbers gjv 
have given them especial prominence among 
fossil remains. The tusks of the Mastodon, 
which are simply incisive or front teeth ot unus¬ 
ual size and form, do not differ materially from 
those of the elephant. In each animal the 
The Ulayeihnos. A Novel. By Anttiont Trollope, 
author of' Can You Forgive Her?" "The Small 
House at AHington.” “Orley Farm,” “The Belton 
Estate," Ac.. Ac. (3vo. pp. 211.) Now York: 
Harper & Brothers. 
Uknatuealness and dullness are the Scylla and 
Cliarybdis of the novelist. Ilappy is bo who pilots 
hia plot safely between them. The affectation of the 
present run of uovcls Is extreme simplicity; in fact, 
it is a little ostentations, as wheu the juggler rolls up 
hiB sleeves anil tips over his tabic, saying “ you ace 
them is no ordinary mechanical trickery, and yet I 
shall produce a most wonderful result." Tito conse¬ 
quence is generally more or less of dullness; and Mr. 
Trollops'* last novel does not wholly escape it. Bat 
it is perfectly natural; and the satire, though a little 
flne-gralned for general application, is genuine. The 
Julia Brabazons are ouly too plenty; and the young 
gentleman who "decided to be permanently misera¬ 
ble" will be appreciated by every man who was ever 
crossed in love.—and that includes all but Adam ; for 
which it is doubtful whether Adam is to be congratu¬ 
lated or commiserated. For sale by Sturms & Avert. 
Fig. t._M olar of Mastodon. 
The vertebra; or joints (as they arc frequently, 
though improperly, called,) that make up the tail 
of the alligator are covered by rough e pines to 
which tire fastened the powerful muscles that 
6way it with such dangerous force. The kanga¬ 
roo, who makes great use of his tail in sitting 
and jumping, is given strength in that organ in 
the same manner. And so uniform is Nature in 
giving strength only where it is required that, 
when the Megatherium, a copy of whose skele¬ 
ton stands in the University of Rochester, wits 
found to have a tail bristling with stouter spines 
i than those of alligator or kangaroo, that mem¬ 
ber was accorded, of necessity, an active and 
useful part. He is believed to have reared his 
ponderous body upon his hind legs and tail, and 
... . • -a «->_1 _a .. H. 
THE PEACOCK. 
The I’eacock, of which you have here a correct 
picture, came tfriginally from the East Indies; 
and they are still sometimes seen in large flocks 
in the islands of .Java and Ceylon. The head is 
adorned with a tuft of twenty-four feathers with 
webs only at the ends, which are. of a beautiful 
green color mixed with gold; the head, throat, 
neck and breast are deep blue, glossed with green 
and gold; the belly is black, with a greenish 
hue ; ami the wings arc reddish brown. But the 
noticeable tiring is its train—or what at first 
sight you would call its tail. It rises just above 
the real tail (which is composed of short, stiff 
feathers to support the train) and consists of long 
feathers, the two in the middle being sometimes 
over fourfectlong, and the others a little shorter. 
On the end of each of these feathers is what is 
called an “eye;" tiiat is, a large, round spot of 
varied colors. When the peacock Is pleased with 
anything, or when in the presence of the female 
birds, he raises this train Ln the form of a fan, 
and shows by all his movements, the position of 
his head, the. bend of his neck and ills slow and 
pompous walk, that he knows how beautiful it is, 
and expects everybody to admire, it. Hence the 
bird has become a symbol of pride. These feath¬ 
ers of his train are shed every year, and while 
moulting them the bird sneaks off out of sight, 
St) If ashamed of the loss of his gorgeous plnmage. 
The pea hen seldom lays more than five or six 
eggs before sitting, in this climate; though a 
Greek writer, Aristotle, describes her as lay¬ 
ing twelve. The bird first gets its beautiful plu¬ 
mage When it is three years old, and it lives 
about twenty years. 
In Borne countries the flesh of the peacock is 
said to have been used for food; but it is cer¬ 
tainly not very good; and in other countries it 
haa been cooked and preserved with spices 
being placed on the table with all its feathers 
on,—not to be eaten, but merely for show. 
tng of gold medals could accomplish such a 
result, or aid it to any extent, the money would 
be well bestowed. But certain facts concerning 
the present state of American colleges forbid 
the faintest hope of any such tiring. In almost 
every oue of these Institutions the students are 
divided up into from three or four to eight or 
ten cliques, generally secret in their organization 
and nroceedlngs. W iiencvcr an honor is awarded 
Two Marriages. By the author ol “ John Halifax, 
Gentleman " “Christian's Mistake, "A Noble 
Life, "A life for a Life,” "Fairy Book,’ &e. [12 
tno—pp.301.] New York: Harper & Brothers. 
I? a novel is to exhibit any purpose beyond that of 
pleasing the reader with an artistic story, it can have 
no nobler one than to show in their true character 
crimes which are intangible to the civil law and of 
whoso enormity the blunted moral sense of the com¬ 
munity takes no cognizance. Renders may well revolt 
at the iulrodnction into fictitious literature of offen¬ 
ces which the courts punish, and which delicacy and 
refinement do not Uko to contemplate. But when wc 
come to it that those entering opon the most solemn 
of all contracts must perforce avow some other motive 
for it than the one which alone can sanction such a 
contract, then it is time the public conscience were 
galvanized Into life again by just such stories as “John 
Bowerbank’s Wife," the first of the two included In 
this last volume of Miss Melock's. For Sale by 
terrnlning in secret conclave, perhaps by lot, 
which member shall receive tt—and the smaller 
honors will be distributed among the Bs, Ca and 
Ds. Next year the highest will go the Bs—and 
go on. Thus it happens that the fact of a man 
being elected to represent his class as orator, 
poet or essayist is uo proof whatever that he is 
an orator, a poet or an essayist, or indeed that I 
he is even a respectable scholar; it only signi¬ 
fies that it was “ his turn.” And the award of 
these medals for gontlemanliness, if left to a 
vote of the class, will be determined in pre¬ 
cisely the same way. The possession of one of 
them will simply indicate that the holder hap¬ 
pened to belong to the clique whose turn It was 
to have the honor In his graduating year. Aud 
perhaps his clique have fixed upon him as the 
recipient merely because he was defeated on the 
election to some other honor lor which he was 
dominated. 
The Village on the Cue?. A Novel. By Miss 
Thackeray, author of “The Story of Elizabeth. 
With illustration* [Svo.—pp. 104.] New \ork: 
Harper & Brothers. 
The great fault ol' this book apparently arises from 
the fact that the author put pen to paper too soon, 
before the plot was matured in her own mind. The 
most enthusiastic lover of music would willingly fore- 
Fto. 4 .—Mastodon’s Tusk. 
Cuvier inferred troin the lorut of his teeth 
that the food of the Mastodon consisted of the 
leaves and smaller branches of trees — an opinion 
that has since received very decided confirmation. 
In four instances the contents of stomachs have 
been found in connection with other remains, 
and in each case they were composed of broken 
twigs. Microscopic examination of two of these 
fossil dinners has assigned them to a species of 
evergreen resembling the spruce. 
History tells us that, for every human being 
now living, two hundred have died; and yet the 
earth reveals to ns the remains of these perished 
generations scarce oftener than those of the Mas¬ 
todon, who probably became extinct before the 
appearance of man. The fossil, too, had a poorer 
chance for preservation: his u im buried remains” 
WELSH BOY AND HIS BIBLE. 
“As I was traveling, not long since on the 
mountain of Conway, there passed on the road 
a little boy with a big book under his arm. I 
asked him what hook he hail got, but he could 
not understand me. He was a little Welsh boy, 
and the book was a "Welsh Bible, lie passed on 
out of sight. Our party proceeded along the 
mountain side, and shortly after Btopped to 
sketch. A small voice from a distance above 
us, caught our ear. I said to my friend, a Welsh 
pastor, who accompanied us, ‘Climb up those 
rocks a little, and see who it is.’ He did so. It. 
| was that little boy on the mountain top, praying 
to the God who made the mountain. His Bible 
was open before him. He read and prayed; he 
was asking Cod to bless the town of Conway, 
I and that on the morrow (It was Saturday after¬ 
noon) many sinners might he converted, and 
that God would bless His servants everywhere, 
as they preached His word. I felt strengthened 
in my work the next day, and often since that, 
as I have thought that many such precious little 
ones’are praying for Newman tiaU. 
Observations on the Bcif.ntific study of up man 
Nature. A Lecture Delivered Before the London 
College of Preceptors, October 10, 1866. By Ed¬ 
ward L. Youmans, M. D. [lffmo.—pp. 41.] New 
York: D. Appleton & Co. 
Prof. Youmans maintains that no study of human 
nature can lead to correct results eo long as the body 
and the mind are considered as separate existences or 
aught but closely connected parts of one complex 
machine; and, true to his favorite science, he holds 
that the investigation must be from matter to mind. 
For sale by Adams & Ellis. 
Berlin and Sans-Souci; or Frederick the Great 
and His Friends. An Historical Romance. By L. 
Muhlbach, author of “Joseph II and His Court.' 
“ Frederick the Great aud His Court," “ Merchant of 
Berlin," Etc., Etc. Translated from the German by 
Mrs. Chapman Coleman and her daughters. ll2mo, 
pp. 391.] New York: D. Appleton A Co. 
Tins is another of Mise Muklbach’s high life ro¬ 
mances which are being translated and re-published 
here in rapid succession. They are written in a lively 
Fig. 2 .—Molar of Elephant. 
The other prominent difference between the 
two trunk-bearers lies in the structure of the 
teeth. The grinding surface of the Mastodon’s 
molar tooth consists of a series of rounded, con¬ 
ical hillocks which are covered with hard enamel 
and of which the largest have corresponding 
fangs in the root (fig. 1.) The molar of the ele¬ 
phant is made on a quite distinct plan. It is 
composed of alternate layers of enamel and a 
softer one so placed that the edge of the pile iff 
He who has no opinion of his own, but de¬ 
pends upon the opinions and tastes ot others, is 
a slave._ 
What is that which goes up the hill and down 
the hill, and yet never moves? The road. 
Amateur Dramas for Parlor Theatricals, even 
iNG Entertainments and School Exhibitions 
B y George M, Baker. [lBmo—pp. 252.J Boston: 
This is just the book that is needed for a class of 
entertainments that are coming more into vogue than 
formerly, and require a well edited text-book for their 
perfection and success. It is very handsomely print- 
l d and illustrated For sale by Felton Bros. 
A daughter of a St. Louis chimney sweep is 
lortly to be married, and the father has issued 
1 less thau eight hundred cards of invitation. 
