THE KING OF PORTUGAL AND THE POPE 
freak, but one straight horn. The rhinoceros has been 
seen in Europe and even in England long before the 
opening of the Zoological Society’s gardens. The 
animal which was sketched by Albert Diirer was sent 
over in the year 1313 to the King of Portugal. It 
proved so intractable, or the Portuguese king appreci- 
ated it so little, that he sent it as a present to the Pope! 
The head of the Church, however, was relieved from the 
anxiety attendant on the housing of so “ fearful a 
wildfowl”’ by the actions of the rhinoceros itself, who, 
‘in an access of fury sunk the vessel on its passage.” 
In the year 1684 old John Evelyn “ went with Sir 
William Godolphin to see the rhinoceros or unicorn, 
being the first, I suppose, that was ever brought to 
England. She belonged to some East India merchants, 
and was sold (as I remember) for above £2,000.” The 
price of rhinoceroses did not diminish very greatly 
after the expiration of a century and a half. For the 
first specimen acquired by the Zoological Society, in 
1834, cost no less than £1,050. Still later, in 1875, even 
more was given for a rhinoceros. The original specimen 
of a reputed new species, not now allowed as a species, 
viz., Rh. lastotis, cost no less than £1,250. This animal 
from Assam was sent for specially, and only died the 
other day. Its remains repose in the Natural History 
Museum. The Gardens are never without more than 
one rhinoceros nowadays. A large Indian rhinoceros 
(Rh. indicus) was once the object of an interesting 
experiment in medicine. It appeared to suffer from 
simply astomach-ache. The late Mr. Bartlett, daringly 
experimentalizing, offered it eighty drops of croton oil 
on abun. The beast swallowed the dose, enough to 
kill ever so many men, and—recovered. 
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