Mastodon, 
particularised, wliicb seem to be fully 
sufficient to mark a diHerence of species. 
A cursory view is sutllcient to enable 
ws to determine that the ordinary fossil 
teeth of elephants are not of the African 
species, and it tnay be ft.irtber said, 
that the greater number of these teeth 
bear a close resemblance to the East- 
Indiaa species, showing, on their nms- 
ticating surface, batids of an equal 
thickness through their whole length, 
■and rudely crc-nulated. So great, in¬ 
deed, is tiie resemblance, that Pallas, 
and most other writers, have considered 
the fossil elephant as being of the same 
species with the Asiatic. 
M. Cuvier, auKious to discover the 
degree of accordance of the fossil ele¬ 
phant’s skeleton with that of tlie living 
species, compared the fossil skull found 
in Siberia by Messerschmidt, with those 
of the African and Asiatic elephants. 
The result of his comparison was, that 
in the fossil species the alveoli of the 
tusks are much longer; the zygomatic 
arch is of a different figure j the post¬ 
orbital apophysis of the frontal bone is 
longer, more pointed, and more crooked; 
and the tubercle of the os lachrymalis is 
considejably larger, and more project¬ 
ing. d'o these peculiarities of the fossil 
skull, M. Cuvier thinks, may be added 
tfie parallelism of the molares. 
Comparing together the bones of the. 
Asiatic and of the African elephant, 
he was able to discover some differences 
betvveen them, as well as between those 
and some of the fossil bones which he 
possessed. These latter he fount!, in 
general, approached nearest to chose of 
the Asiatic elephant. lie c>,'ncludes 
with supposing that the fossil remains 
are of a species differing more widely 
from the Asiatic eiepliant than the horse 
does from the ass, and therefore does 
not tfiink it impossible but that it might 
have existed in a climate which w’ould 
have destroyed the elephant of India. 
It may therefore be assumed as cer¬ 
tain, from the observations of M. Cu¬ 
vier, that at least one species of ele¬ 
phants Iras existed, of which none arc 
now known living; and, should tlie dif¬ 
ference of structure which 1 have point¬ 
ed out, in some of the fossil teeth, he 
admitted as sufficient to designate a dif¬ 
ference of species, it may be tlien said, 
that there exist the fossil remains of, at 
least, two species of elepliants, w'hich 
were different from those vvith which we 
fere acquainted. 
Ffom the preceding observations it 
tul . 
appears then, that the fossil elephantine 
remains, notwithstanding their resein-* 
blance la some respects to the bones of 
the Asiatic elephant, have belonged to 
one or more species, different from those 
which are now known. This circum¬ 
stance agrees with the facts of the fossil 
remains of tiie tapirs and rhinoceroses, 
which appear to have differed materially 
from the living tmimals of the satne 
genera. The remains of elephants ob¬ 
tained from Essex, Mirldlescx, Kent, 
and other parts of England, coiifirir^ 
the observations of Cuvier, that these 
remains are generally found in the looser 
and mure superficial parts of the earth, 
and most frequently in the alluvia which- 
fill tlie bottoms of the vallies, or which 
border the beds of rivers. I’hey are 
generally found mingled with the othe? 
bones of quadrupeds of known genera, 
such as those of the rliinoceros, oxj 
liorse, &c. and frequently also with tlii^ 
remains of marine animals. 
Mastodon. 
We now come to the examination of 
one of the most stupend' us animals 
known, eitiier in a recent or a fossil 
state; and which, whetlier we contem¬ 
plate its original mode of existence,, 
,or the period at which it lived, our 
minds cannot but be filled with asio* 
nishment. 
The first traces of tiiis animal are 
sketched in a letter from Dr. Mather^ 
of Boston, to Dr. Woodward, in 1712, 
and are transcribed from a work im 
manuscript, entitled Biblia Americana^ 
In tills work, teeth and bones of pro¬ 
digious size, supposed to be human, are 
said to have been found in Albany, iir 
New England. About the year 1740, 
numerous similar bones were found ia 
Nencucky, on the Ohio, and dispersed 
among the European virtuos. 
Many bones of this animal having 
been found, in 1799, in the State of 
New York, in the vicinity of Newburgh, 
wliich is situated on the Hudson, or 
North River, Mr. C. W. Peale, of Phi¬ 
ladelphia, purchased tliese, wicli the 
right of digging for the remainder. 
The country in which these remains 
are found is like an immense plain, 
bounded on every side by immense 
mountains- On digging into the moras¬ 
ses where these bones are found, the 
following strata are generally met with: 
one or two feet of peat, one or two feet 
of yellow marie, wdth vegetable re¬ 
mains | about tvvo feet of grey marie. 
