M A M M O T H. 
Jfland, about five leagues farther from the eoaft, contained 
a!fo bones of the fame nature ; but the third, which was 
the fartheft off, contained none at all. The great Siberian 
rivers feem, therefore, to have carried down, for ages, the 
bones of elephants and rhinocerofes, in the fame way al- 
moft as other rivers carry down trees; and to have formed 
them into illands with the alfiftance of fand and ice. This 
is a mode of forming land, which, without the experience 
of it, we do not think that it could have entered into the 
thoughts of any geologift to imagine. 
All this gives an aftonifhing meafure of the quantity of 
foflil bones that the Siberian rivers carry down. The ac¬ 
curate obfervation and diligent refearch of Cuvier, fup- 
ported by his extraordinary (kill in comparative anatomy, 
have led him to fome general conclufions concerning thefe 
animal remains, that are of importance in the natural hif- 
tory of the earth. The bones of the mammoth have a 
confiderable refemblance to thofe of the prefent elephants 
of India ; not fo clofe, however, but that they differ more 
than thofe of the horfe and the afs; fo that they cannot 
be fuppofed to belong to animals of the fame fpecies. This 
is true alfo of the elephants’ bones found in Europe; fo 
that the foflil elephant is of a fpecies different from any 
that is now known. This conclufion might perhaps have 
lefs probability, if there were only one foflil, to be com¬ 
pared with one living fpecies. But a comparifon of the 
olleology of the foflil with that of the living rhinoceros, 
(Itows that they alfo are of different fpecies, and that the 
diverfity is even more remarkable than in the former in¬ 
stance. An animal has alfo been found in a foflil (fate, 
that belongs to the genus of the Tapir, but of a fpecies 
different from any now living. This animal, among the 
living tribes of the prefent world, is confined to the new 
continent. In former ages its refidence feems to have 
been exclufively in the old; for among the foflil animals 
of America the Tapir has never been difcovered. The 
bones of thefe animals, (which all belong to the order of 
the Pachydermata, that is to fay, of thick-fkinned qua¬ 
drupeds, having more than two toes to the foot, and in- 
cifive teeth in both jaws,) though entire (keletons, have 
fometimes been found alone; are more frequently mixed 
with the bones of other quadrupeds, the ox, the buffalo, 
the horfe, the antelope ; and to thefe are fometimes added, 
(hells, and the bones of marine animals. The beds which 
cover thofe foflil remains are not always of great thick- 
nefs; they are feldom of a ftony nature, but conflft of allu¬ 
vial and unconfolidated earth. The bones themfelves are 
rarely petrified, and have no appearance of being rolled 
or carried by water from one region of the globe to ano¬ 
ther. The abundance of them in fo many climates is in 
itfelf a proof, without any other circumftance, that they 
were not tranfported, by a fudden inundation, from one 
place of the earth to another; for they could not, in that 
way, have been fo generally diffufed. On the fame prin¬ 
ciple, we conclude, that thefe bones have not been bu¬ 
ried by the hands of men. If the only inffances in which 
they occurred were in countries that had been conquered 
by the arms of the Macedonians, the Carthaginians, and 
the Romans; and if the bones found were thofe of the 
elephant only ; there might be fome pretence for fup- 
pofing them to be the bones of animals of the laft-men- 
tioned fpecies which had perifhed in war. But, when 
the number of individuals is fo great, when the region 
to which they extend is fo vaft, and the bones of other 
animals fo frequently intermixed ; we muff acknowledge, 
that they have not been the victims of the reftleffnefs 
and ambition of the human race. Indeed, they probably 
belong to a period when man’s dominion over the earth 
was weak and partial; when the human race, perhaps, 
was confined to fome favourite f'pot in the valley of the 
Nile, or in the plains of Shinaar ; and when the elephant, 
from his fagacity and ftrength, remained mafter of the 
earth. The fails alfo that have been Hated, lead us to 
rejeft Buffon’s explanation, founded on the gradual refri¬ 
geration of our globe. The rhinoceros of the Lena, and 
Vol. XIV. No, 970. 
24 i 
the mammoth whole carcafe was preferved in the ice> 
muff have lived and died in a cold climate; fo that, as 
foon as the warmth of life was extinguiflied, the antifeptic 
power of cold prevented the approach of corruption. 
The bones from the Ohio have been long known, and 
were the firft which convinced naturalilfs that certain 
fpecies had become entirely extinft. The great animal 
to which thefe bones muff have belonged, was for a long 
time confounded with the mammoth of Siberia ; and, 
though the teeth were admitted to be of a Itruclure quite 
different, the name of mammoth's bones was very improperly 
applied to them, both in England and America. The 
teeth are ftudded with large tubercles, inftead of being 
compofed of alternate layers of bone and enamel, as 
is the cafe with the elephant and rboft graminivorous 
quadrupeds. The animal muff, neverthelefs, have had a 
great affinity to the elephant; yet, on account of its teeth, 
Cuvier refers it to a different genus, to which, becaufe of 
the tubercles juft mentioned, he gives the name of Majlo- 
donton. The Ohio Indians have a tradition handed down 
from their fathers refpedting thefe animals, “ That in 
ancient times a herd of them came to the Big-bone Licks, 
and began an univerfal deltrudtion of the bears, deer, elk3, 
buffaloes, and other animals which had been created for 
the ufe of the Indians: that the Good Spirit above, look¬ 
ing down and feeing this, was fo enraged, that he feized 
his lightning, defcended to the earth, heated himfelf upon 
a neighbouring mountain on a rock, on which his feat 
and the print of his feet are (till to be feen, and hurled 
his bolts among them till the whole were flaughtered, 
except the big bull, who, prefenting his forehead to the 
(hafts, (hook them off as they fell; but at length miffing 
one, it wounded him in the fide ; whereon, fpringing 
round, he bounded over the Ohio, the Wabafh, the Illi¬ 
nois, and finally over the Great Lakes, where he is living 
at this day.” 
Thefe bones were forwarded with eagernefs to all parts 
of Europe, and depofited in mufeums, where they attrafled 
the curiolity of all naturalilfs, whofe conjedhires and theo¬ 
ries on them were very various, until Dr. Hunter, by a 
more accurate comparifon between them and the bones of 
other animals, determined that they muff have belonged 
to a large non-defcript animal of the carnivorous kind, 
fomewhat refembling the hippopotamus and the elephant, 
yet effentially different from both. The lubjebt is now 
completely elucidated. Not long fince, fome farmers in 
the (fate of New York, in America, digging marl from 
their morafles in the neighbourhood of New Windfbr, 
accidentally difcovered feveral of thefe bones, which were 
preferved by phyficians in the neighbourhood. In the 
autumn of 1801, Mr. Charles Peale, and his fon Mr. Rem¬ 
brandt Peale, having obtained poffeflion of thofe bones, 
perfevered for near three months, with much labour and 
expenfe, in fearching for the remainder of this animal; 
and were at length fo fortunate as to obtain two fkeletons, 
found in two diltindt fituations, and unmixed with the 
bones of any other individual. One of thefe is preferved 
in the mufeum at Philadelphia, and the other was exhi¬ 
bited a few years ago in London, previoufly to its being 
taken to Paris. The length of this fkeleton, from the 
chin to the rump, was fifteen feet, and its height over the 
(boulders eleven feet; and from the point of the tufks to 
the end of the tail, in a flraight line, it was feventeen feet 
long. The whole fkeleton weighed about iooolb. The 
following differences between the fkull of the mammoth 
and that of the elephant are given by Mr. R. Peale: On 
examining the head of the elephant, it will appear, that 
the fockets for the tufks are fituated, with refpedl to the 
condyle of the neck, nearly in an angle of 45 0 ; fo that 
the tufks, which have but little curve,are directed down¬ 
wards and forwards, and may be with eafe employed or- 
fenfively and defenfively. On the other hand it will be 
obferved, that, in the mammoth, this focket is nearly in 
a horizontal line with the condyle; and therefore the 
tufks, which are femicircular, could never have been ele- 
3. Q vated 
