Chapter XIII: Part 13

To the fifth class we refer those rocks which have a crystalline, granular, or slaty texture. The mutual adhesion of the heterogeneous parts, of which they consist, being, in general, inconsiderable, they are easily broken down by mechanical means, and thus contribute in a high degree to the formation of productive soil. The felspar contained in these rocks, on account of the chemical decomposition which it readily undergoes, has a great effect not only upon the quantity, but also the fertility of the soil produced. The quartz, on the contrary, as well as the mica and hornblende, long resist chemical decomposition; they are, however, useful in this respect, that the argillaceous soil arising from the felspar, has its tenacity diminished; and is consequently rendered better adapted for vegetation, by being intermixed with them. _Granite_ and _gneiss_, of all truly granular crystalline rocks, afford the deepest and most fertile soil, aptly compounded of different substances, sufficiently loose in its aggregation, and capable of retaining the necessary moisture. Soil arising from the disintegration of granite is unfavourable to vegetation only, where the rock abounds much in quartz, and where the superfluous water cannot run off, and so gives rise to marshes, which produce only vegetables of inferior quality; of which we have examples in the granite districts of Aberdeen. In such places as these, peat is easily generated, which, although of great use, is yet much less advantageous than wood. _Syenite_, which abounds much in hornblende, is inferior to granite, with respect to the production of fertile soil; and primitive _greenstone_, which resists disintegration and decomposition in the highest degree, occupies the last place in this class. In the series of slaty crystalline rocks, _mica-slate_ is next to gneiss: but on account of the small proportion of felspar which enters into its composition, it does not afford so productive a soil.

In the sixth class may be placed the slaty rocks, whether simple, or intimately compounded, which do not readily undergo chemical decomposition, but which easily separate at their natural fissures, and are mechanically resolved into an earthy mass, forming a paste with water, circumstances which are observed chiefly in _clay-slate_, a rock of much importance in the formation of productive soil, usually passing into a clayey sort of earth.

To the seventh class belong the conglomerated rocks, whose parts indeed undergo very little, if any, chemical change, but are easily separated by mechanical means, and are thus converted into a gravelly, sandy, or earthy mass. Of this kind are _greywacke_, _old red sandstone_, and sandstones of various kinds. Much diversity is exhibited by these rocks, with regard to the facility with which they undergo disintegration, as well as the nature of the soil arising from them; circumstances which chiefly depend upon the nature of the cement, and its relation to the parts cemented. The disintegration of these rocks is the more easily effected that the cement is abundant, and less intimately connected with the other parts, that is, the more they depart from a crystalline nature; on which account greywacke is less easily converted into soil, than the common varieties of sandstone. By the decomposition of greywacke, a loose and fertile soil is formed, containing particles of quartz and clay in due proportion; on the other hand, by the decomposition of red sandstone, a soil is frequently produced, abounding in argillaceous particles impregnated with iron, and therefore stiff and cold. The _variegated sandstone_, with a marly cement, not unfrequently affords a pretty fertile soil; the _quadersandstein_, on the contrary, commonly presents a sandy and arid soil.

Lastly, in the eighth class we shall place those rocks, whether simple or intimately compounded, whose nature is so loose, or whose parts are so separated, that they fall with great facility into an earthy mass, and are also in part mechanically reduced by water. To this class belong the different varieties of _marl_, _slate-clay_, _basaltic_ and _volcanic tuffa_. These rocks, many of which are extensively diffused, are of much importance in the formation of productive soil, although the quality of the earth produced by them varies much, according to their different natures. Slate-clay affords an argillaceous soil; in earth produced by the decomposition of marl, the clay is diminished in proportion to the greater abundance of the calcareous or sandy parts; while a mixed and very fertile soil is usually generated from basaltic and volcanic tufas.

The various relations which exist in the stratification and position of rocks, have much influence in producing a diversity in the soil formed immediately from their decomposition. This diversity cannot be so great when different rocks of various ages occur in a determinate order in horizontal strata; in which case, the uppermost bed may exhibit a great extent of surface of the same nature. When, on the other hand, strata of rocks of different natures, forms, and dimensions, placed at different angles of inclination, and in different directions, appear at the surface, it will easily be understood how it may happen that the soil produced by their decomposition may occur of very different qualities, in places not very distant from each other. The manner in which the soil is influenced by a difference in the arrangement and position of the strata, will become evident, on comparing districts in which one particular sort of rock lies beneath the surface in horizontal strata, with others in which the solid substratum is composed of various rocks differing in their inclination towards the horizon. In districts of the former kind, the qualities of the soil vary in general but little; in such as are of the latter kind, on the contrary, they are often found extremely different. The great diversity of soil seen in England, as well as in Germany, may, in fact, be partly explained by the circumstance, that, in those countries, the nature and position of the strata vary every where. On the other hand, the great similarity which pervades the soil of Southern Russia, is without doubt produced by a uniformity in the position and inclination of the limestone which lies immediately under the soil.

The nature of the principal mass of the strata usually exerts a great degree of influence over the qualities of the soil. When the solid substratum is sandstone, its effect upon the soil is, in general, as evidently seen, though not perhaps in an equal degree, as when it is marl. Exceptions, however, to this rule sometimes occur; as, for instance, when the principal mass of a rock which resists disintegration in a high degree contains beds that are easily reduced to earth. This is the case with the shell-limestone (muschelkalkstein) of Germany, the mountains of which are not unfrequently covered with a clayey soil, which has not been produced by the decomposition of the principal strata themselves, but by that of the slate-clay and argillaceous marl alternating with them.

Hitherto we have considered untransported soil, or that produced from the disintegration or decomposition of the subjacent rocks in the places where it occurs; we have now to examine the relations which exist between the subjacent rock, and the _transported soil_ lying upon it. The nature of the rock does not indeed influence, excepting in a more remote degree, the transported soil, which has been carried to a greater or less distance from the places of its production, by the agency of moving powers, and again deposited of various forms and compositions. However, it may often be plainly seen, that the materials of this soil have been derived from particular rocks, and that these rocks have exerted some degree of influence over the formation and distribution of the transported soil. The examination of these relations is of great importance, because it is with secondary or transported soil that agriculture is principally concerned. The varieties of transported soil depend chiefly upon three circumstances: _1st_, The nature of the rocks from which they are derived; _2dly_, The quality and effect of the moving powers; _3dly_, The changes which they may have undergone after their formation.

The origin of the materials which enter into the composition of transported soil, has been already considered. From their difference may be easily explained why soil generated from the debris of primitive crystalline rocks has different qualities from soil which has been derived from strata of sandstone or marl.

The principal powers which contribute to the transportation of soil, are, The weight of loose masses, ice, and water. The weight of loose masses is a cause of transportation which we frequently see in operation. By it the huge cones of debris at the base and upon the declivities of precipices and mountains, are gradually carried off toward the bottom of the valleys; a phenomenon which can scarcely any where be better seen than in the valleys of the Alps, where mountains sometimes occur evidently consisting of debris, and clothed with trees and shrubs, or covered with pastures, the masses of which are gradually moved, as upon inclined planes, by the action of the water which percolates through them.

Ice effects the transportation of rocks and debris, with a power which nothing can resist. This is no where more conspicuous than among the glaciers of the Alps, by the falling of which great heaps of stones and rubbish are produced. The transportation of large stones by means of ice may also be seen in our mountain torrents in winter. Huge masses of stone, scattered over the plains of the north of Germany and the islands of Denmark, and often very prejudicial to agriculture, whose northern origin appears to be established, may have been carried by the same powerful agent from Finland, Sweden and Norway, into those countries, at a time when the plains of northern Germany, with the other flat districts along the shores of the Baltic, were still covered by the waves of the ocean.

In the formation of transported soil, water usually exerts a great degree of power. By means of it, not only are vast masses transported to the greatest distances, but their parts are at the same time crumbled down and mingled together. To these operations are to be attributed the various terminations of different soils at horizontal distances, as well as the different alternations of their strata at vertical ones. The power of water in the formation of transported soil varies, not only according to the different inclinations of its channel, but also in regard to the form, size, and weight of the parts carried off by it; for which reason, in the formation of such soils, the same phenomena take place on a large scale, that we see on a smaller, in performing the operations of breaking and washing the ores of metals. For the same reason that, in these processes, the larger particles subside, while the smaller are propelled, from which again the heavier particles of ore are sooner deposited than the lighter; in plains in the vicinity of a mountain, covered with transported soil, stones and debris are usually seen first, then earth, clay, and sand mixed together, and farther on, finer sand, with strata of clay.

Transported or secondary soil, produced by water, according to the mode of its formation, is divided into four classes, viz.--1. Soil of Valleys; 2. River Soil; 3. Lake Soil; 4. Marine Soil.

1. _Soil of Valleys._--It is washed down by rain and snow water, and partly also produced by rivulets, which carry off the loose parts from the declivities of mountains to the plains. The nature of this soil in general clearly shews the nearness of its origin. Its depth is always greatest in the bottom of the valley, and gradually diminishes toward the declivities of the mountains. The curvature of the different strata is usually accommodated to the irregularity of its external form, so that when a section is made of them, they exhibit a series of parallel curved lines.

2. _River Soil_, or the soil found in the beds and banks of rivers, and which is produced by the continual propelling power of large rivers. To this class belong two different kinds; _1st_, Soil containing pebbles of various sizes, produced by the power of torrents in the vicinity of mountains; and, _2d_, Earth or mud, deposited in the beds of rivers, in places at a distance from mountains. A peculiarity of river soil in general is, that it is much extended in length, while its breadth is comparatively but small. The different layers have neither so much irregularity as in the preceding kind, nor are they so precise in arrangement as in the following.

3. _Lake Soil_, deposited at the bottom of still water. To this class is to be referred the soil in the bottoms of valleys, which had formerly been lakes, either separate or connected with rivers. The horizontal dimensions of this kind of soil are often more or less equal. Sometimes, indeed, the length is greater than the breadth; not, however, in the same degree as in soil deposited in the bed of rivers. The surface is usually plane, and the different strata alternate in a parallel manner.

4. _Marine Soil_, that is to say, the mud of the ancient ocean. It is the greatest of all in its extent, both in a horizontal and a vertical direction. Its surface is more or less undulated, very seldom even. Its masses are both very thick and very uniform in composition. Different and alternating strata, however, do occur, whose forms and dimensions are usually more or less regular, and which are not unfrequently undulated.

Soil, after being formed, is acted upon by natural powers in various ways. The atmosphere is perpetually modifying it; rivers, waves, and winds, act here and there upon its surface, and alter its external form; water introduces into it the substances which it holds in solution. The different constituent parts of soil act upon each other chemically, and in this manner new decompositions and mixtures are produced; and this chemical change is increased by the action of vegetables, as well as of bodies deriving their origin from both organic kingdoms.

From what has been said of the relations existing between the masses of which the solid crust of the globe is composed, and the loose earth or soil by which it is covered, it appears evident enough (Hausmann concludes) that they have great influence over its formation and nature, and therefore upon the more perfect vegetables, and especially those which are the objects of cultivation; and that although the fertility of the soil is much increased by these vegetables themselves, yet the first foundation of their vigour is derived from the disintegration and decomposition of rocks. If this be correct, the constitution of the solid crust of the earth has a much more extended influence. For, by preparing a habitation for the greater and most important parts of plants, it also exerts a high degree of influence upon the animals which derive their sustenance from them, and, at the same time, affords the means of subsistence to man[416].

NOTE.

ACCOUNT OF THE IRISH ELK, FOSSIL ELEPHANT OR MAMMOTH, AND THE MASTODON.

As the Irish Elk, the Fossil Elephant or Mammoth, and the Mastodon, are among the most remarkable of the fossil and extinct species of quadrupeds mentioned in the preceding pages of this work, we, with the view of farther gratifying the curiosity of our readers, now lay before them the following additional details from the writings of Cuvier, Goldfuss, and others.

1. _Fossil Elk of Ireland_, Cervus megaceros[417].

(_Noticed at_ p. 286.)

One of the most magnificent of the bisulcated animals met with in a fossil state in the British Islands is the Elk of Ireland, the _Cervus megaceros_. Bones and horns of vast size of this species are almost daily dug out of the bogs and marl pits of Ireland. Similar remains have been met with in alluvial strata in Britain, and also in the Isle of Man.

“So frequently do these remains,” Mr Hart remarks, “occur in most parts of Ireland, that there are very few of the peasantry who are not, either from personal observation or report, acquainted with them by the familiar name of the horns of the ‘old deer.’ Indeed in some parts of the country they have been found so often, that far from being regarded as objects of any extraordinary interest, they have been either thrown aside as lumber, or applied to the commonest economical uses[418].

“I have made diligent but fruitless search for an account of the particular time when any of these remains were first discovered. As they generally occur in marl, it is most likely that they did not begin to attract attention until the advanced state of agriculture had created an increased demand for that mineral as a manure. We can very easily imagine the astonishment which the appearance of horns so large, and of such strange form, must have excited in the minds of those who discovered them for the first time, and how readily they obtained a place in the hall of some adjoining mansion, where they were deposited as an ornament of great curiosity, from the contrast which they formed with the horns of the species of deer known at present. In this way we may account for the preservation of so many specimens as are found in the possession of the gentry in different parts of this country.

“Very lately an entire skeleton of the Irish Elk was dug up in that country. The following statement of the circumstances under which the bones were found, with their geological position, was laid before the Dublin Society, in a letter from Archdean Maunsell to the Right Hon. George Knox.

“_Middleton Lodge, March 8. 1825._

“MY DEAR SIR,

“I deferred replying to your letter of the 1st, as it was my
intention to proceed to Limerick in a few days, and I was anxious
to look over some notes I had taken, and which I left there, of
the circumstances connected with the discovery of the fossil
remains which the Royal Dublin Society have received. As I have,
however, been obliged to postpone my departure for several days,
I can no longer defer offering my best thanks for the kind manner
in which you have received the conjectures which I formed upon a
subject to which my attention was directed, by having fortunately
been present before the bones were disturbed from the situation in
which they had lain during a period which I apprehend it would not
be easy to define. I am sensible that any consideration which may
have been attached to my observations should be attributed to the
interest which the subject itself is calculated to excite, rather
than to any ability of mine to do it justice. The opinion which
I took the liberty of communicating to you was formed after some
consideration, and although I had not the most remote idea of its
being worthy of any attention, I can have no objection to your
making any use of it which you may conceive expedient. There is, I
conceive, much interesting material for speculation, resulting from
the discovery of these fossil remains, and the first that naturally
occurs is the manner in which the animals were destroyed, and
the bones so singularly preserved. I stated, in the hasty sketch
which I gave you of my theory upon this point, that I apprehended
they must have been destroyed by some overwhelming deluge, that
they were probably drowned upon the hills where they had taken
refuge, as the waters rose, and that, as they subsided, they were
drawn from thence into the valley in which they were found; that
the agitation of the waters had occasioned such a dispersion of
the bones, when the ligaments dissolved, as would account for
their having been scattered in the way in which they were found,
and that the deposite of shell marl, with which I supposed the
water to have been turbid, had so completely protected them from
atmospheric influence as to prevent their subsequent decomposition.
To enable you to form some estimate of the reasonableness of this
supposition, it is necessary that I should endeavour to explain the
situation, &c. of the valley and the adjoining hills. The valley
in which the remains were found contains about twenty plantation
acres, and the soil consists of a stratum of peat about a foot
thick, immediately under this a stratum of shell-marl, varying
from 1½ to 2½ feet in thickness; in this many of the shells retain
their original colour and figure, and are not marine; under the
marl there is a bed of light blue clay; through this one of my
workmen drove an iron rod, in several places, twelve feet deep,
without meeting opposition. Most of the bones and heads, eight in
number, were found in the marl; many of them, however, appeared to
rest on the clay, and to be merely covered by the marl. The remains
were disposed in such a manner as to prevent the possibility of
ascertaining the exact component parts of each skeleton; in some
places portions were found removed many yards from others, and in
no instance were two bones found lying close to each other. Their
position also was singular; in one place two heads were found, with
the antlers entwined in each other, and immediately under them a
large blade-bone; in another, a very large head was discovered, and
although a most diligent search was made, no part of the skeleton
found; within some hundred yards, in another, the jaw-bones were
found, and not the head. The conclusion which, I conceive, may
fairly be deduced from such a position of the various parts of
the animals is, that there must have been some powerful agent
employed in dispersing them after their death; and as I consider
it impossible that their own gravity could have been sufficient to
sink them through the various strata, I conceive these must have
originated subsequently to the dispersion of the bones. I also
think, that, if they had been exposed for any time to atmospheric
influence, they never could have been preserved in their present
extraordinary perfection.

“The hills immediately adjoining this valley are composed of
limestone, with a covering of rich mould of various degrees of
thickness. One of them, whose base is about thirty acres, rises
directly from the edge of the valley, with sides very precipitous,
and in one place perfectly perpendicular, of naked limestone. In
every part of this hill the superficies comprises as much stone as
mould; on the side nearly opposite, the hill is equally high, but
the sides not so steep, and the covering of mould thicker; on the
other sides the ground only rises in some degree (twenty or thirty
feet perhaps), and consists of a thin mould, and immediately under
a _very hard_ limestone gravel. Indeed, except where limestone
forms the substratum, this is the character of all the soil in the
vicinity except the Corkasses, which are evidently alluvial. I am
fully aware, that, assuming the destruction of the animals to have
been occasioned by a flood, they would naturally have retreated
from the water to the hills, and that, as they probably met their
fate there, their remains should have been discovered on the summit
of the hills, and not in the valley, particularly as one of them
is perfectly flat on the top, which contains six or seven acres. I
apprehend that the remains of many of them were deposited on the
tops of the hills; but as they have _now_ only a slight covering
of mould, not sufficient to cover a small dog, they were formerly
perfectly bare; and as they were thus devoid of the means of
protecting the remains from the atmosphere, whatever was left there
soon became decomposed, and resolved into portions of the mould,
which is now to be found on the hills. This remark I conceive also
to be applicable to the soil with the substratum of limestone
gravel, which affords quite as little material for preserving the
bones as the hills do.

“It is material that I should observe, that of eight heads which
we found, none were without antlers; the variety in character also
was such as to induce me to imagine, that possibly the females were
not devoid of these appendages. Unfortunately, however, from the
difficulty of raising them, being saturated with water, and as soft
as wet brown paper, only three were at all perfect.

“Having now disposed of these antediluvians, a question naturally
arises, how it happens that the fossil remains of no other animals
were found, when the same fate probably overwhelmed every existing
creature? Could deer have been the only living beings at that
period? Was Ireland part of a great continent when this catastrophe
occurred, and were these unfortunates the first emigrants to our
Isle from that great centre from whence the globe was supplied with
occupants, and did they perish before other animals less influenced
by enterprise, and less endowed with physical strength, could have
followed their example? These problems I confess myself unable to
solve, and shall not presume to obtrude my many reveries upon this
and other points, which have originated in the discovery of a few
bones, upon those who I know are so much better competent to form a
sound opinion. I shall, I hope, be able to send the antlers, which
are very fine, on the 15th of this month.

“If you have a desire to make any use of this letter, I can only
say I have no objection. I remain, dear Sir, with feelings of great
respect,

“Yours most truly,

“WILLIAM W. MAUNSELL.”

Of this skeleton, the most perfect hitherto found, the following interesting description is given by Mr Hart, in his memoir.

“This magnificent skeleton is perfect in every single bone of the
framework which contributes to form a part of its general outline:
the spine, the chest, the pelvis, and the extremities, are all
complete in this respect; and, when surmounted by the head, and
beautifully expanded antlers, which extend out to a distance of
nearly six feet on either side, forms a splendid display of the
reliques of the former grandeur of the animal kingdom, and carries
back the imagination to a period when whole herds of this noble
animal wandered at large over the face of the country.

To proceed with a description of the several parts of this specimen
in detail, I shall commence with the horns, which give the animal
its chief characteristic feature.

_The horns._--That the description of these may be the more
intelligible, I will first explain the terms which I mean to apply
to their several parts. Each horn consists of the socket or root,
the burr or coronary circle, the beam or shaft, the palm and the
antlers.

The socket or root is the part of the horn which grows out of
the frontal bone, and which is never shed; it is smooth, of a
brown colour, an inch and half in length, and eleven inches three
quarters in circumference; in the animal’s lifetime it was covered
by the skin. The coronary or bead-like circle, or burr, is a ring
of small, hard, whitish prominences, resembling a string of pearls,
which encircles the junction of the socket with the part of the
horn which falls annually from the heads of all deer.

The beam or shaft extends outwards, with a curvature whose
concavity looks downwards, and backwards. This part is nearly
cylindrical at its root, and its length equals about one-fourth of
that of the whole horn; its outer end is spread out and flattened
on its upper surface, and is continuous with the palm, which
expands outwards in a fan-like form, the outer extremity of which
measures two feet ten inches across, being its broadest part.
Where the beam joins the palm the horn undergoes a kind of twist,
the effect of which on the palm is, to place its edges above and
below, and its surfaces anterior and posterior; the anterior
surface is convex, and looks outwards; the posterior is concave,
and its surface looks towards that of the opposite palm. Such is
the position of the horns, when the head is so placed that the
zygomatic arch is parallel to the horizon, as it would be during
progression, or whilst the animal stands in an easy posture.

The antlers are the long pointed processes which project from
the horns, two of which grow from the beam anteriorly; the first
comes off immediately from the root, and is directed downwards,
overhanging the orbit; this is called the brow antler, which, in
this specimen, is divided into two points at its extremity[419].

The other antler, which comes off from the beam, we may call the
sur-antler: in this specimen it consists of a broad plate or palm,
concave on its upper surface, horizontal in its direction, and
forked into two points anteriorly,--an appearance which I have not
observed in any other specimen of upwards of forty which I have
seen, nor do I find it marked in any of the plates of those bones
extant.

There is one antler given off posteriorly from the junction of the
beam with the palm: it runs directly backwards parallel to the
corresponding one of the opposite horn. The inferior edge of the
palm beyond this runs outwards and backwards: it is obtuse and
thick, and its length is two feet six inches. From the anterior
and external borders of each palm there come off six long pointed
antlers. None of these are designated by any particular name. The
number of the antlers of both sides taken together is twenty-two.

The surface of the horns is of a lightish colour, resembling that
of the marl in which they were found; they are rough, and marked
with several arborescent grooves, where the ramifications of the
arteries by which they had been nourished during their growing
state were lodged. The horns, with the head attached, weighed
eighty-seven pounds avoirdupois. The distance between their extreme
tips in a right line is nine feet two inches.

_Head._--The forehead is marked by a raised ridge extended between
the roots of the horns; anterior to this, between the orbits and
the root of the nose, the skull is flat; there is a depression on
each side in front of the root of the horn and over the orbit,
capable of lodging the last joint of the thumb, at the bottom of
which is the superciliary hole, large enough to give passage to
an artery proportioned to the size of the horns. Inferior to the
orbit we have the lachrymatory fossa, and the opening left by the
deficiency of bone common to all deer, and remarkable for being
smaller in this than in any other species.

Below the orbits the skull grows suddenly narrower, and the upper
parts of the nasal bones become contracted by a depression on
either side, at the lower part of which is the infra-orbitar hole.
The opening of the nares is oval, being five inches long by three
broad, the greatest breadth being in the centre. From the roots of
the horns to the occipital spine measures three inches and an half;
the occiput descends at a right angle with this, being three inches
deep to the foramen magnum: the greatest breadth of the occiput is
eight inches. The temporal fossæ approach to within two inches of
each other behind the horns.

_Teeth._--They do not differ from those of animals of the
ruminating class. The incisors were not found, having dropped out;
there is no mark of canine teeth; the molares are not much worn
down, and are twenty-four in number.

The skeleton measures, from the end of the nose to the tip of
the tail, ten feet ten inches. The spine consists of twenty-six
vertebræ, viz. seven cervical, thirteen dorsal, and six lumbar. The
size of the cervical vertebræ greatly exceeds that of the other
classes, and the spines of the dorsal rise to a foot in height. The
necessity of these bones being so marked is obvious, considering
the strong cervical ligament, and powerful muscles, required for
supporting and moving a head which, at a moderate calculation, must
have sustained a weight of three quarters of a hundred of solid
bony matter.

The extremities are in proportion to the different parts of the
trunk, and present a conformation favourable to a combination of
great strength with fleetness.

It is not the least remarkable circumstance connected with these
bones, that they are in such a high state of preservation as to
present all the lines and impressions of the parts which had been
attached to them in the recent state. Indeed, if we examine them
as compared with the bones of an animal from which all the softer
parts have been separated by maceration, the only perceptible
differences in their physical properties are, that they are a
little heavier, a degree harder, that their surface is brown, and
that they all, with the exception of the horns, present a polished
appearance, which is owing to the periosteum having been preserved,
and still remaining to cover them, as was discovered when they were
chemically examined.

The existence of fat or adipocire in the shaft of one of the
bones mentioned by Archdeacon Maunsell, and which I saw in his
possession, is a thing for which it is extremely difficult to
account, as it occurred but in one solitary instance, and it did
not appear that this bone was at all differently circumstanced from
the rest. Those which I had an opportunity of examining, by boring
holes in them, were hollow, and contained, for the most part, only
a small quantity of black animal earth.

Mr Stokes found, in a rib of this animal,

Animal matter, 42.87
Phosphates with some Fluates, 43.45
Carb., Lime 9.14
Oxides, 1.02
Silica, 1.14
Water and loss, 2.38
------
100.00

Dr Apjohn of Dublin made the following observations with regard to
the animal matter in the bones:

‘The bone was subjected for two days to the action of dilute
muriatic acid. When examined at the end of this period, it had
become as flexible as a recent bone submitted to the action of
the same solvent. The periosteum was in some parts puffed out by
carbonic acid gas, disengaged from the bone, and appeared to be in
a state of perfect soundness.

‘To a portion of the solution of the bone in the muriatic acid some
infusion of galls was added, which caused a copious precipitate of
a dun colour. This proved to be tannate of gelatine, mixed with a
small portion of the tannate and gallate of iron.

‘The cartilage and gelatine, therefore, so far from being
destroyed, had not been perceptibly altered by time.’”

Until Baron Cuvier published his account of these remains[420], they were generally believed to have belonged to the same species as the moose deer or elk of North America, an opinion which appears to have been first advanced by Dr Thomas Molyneux in 1697[421], and which depends principally on the exaggerated description of that animal given by Josselyn in his account of two voyages to New England, published in 1674, in which he states that it is sometimes twelve feet high, with horns of two fathoms wide! This was the more readily believed by the learned Doctor, as it tended to confirm him in a favourite theory which he seems to have entertained, that Ireland had once been joined to the New Continent.

But the assertions of Josselyn regarding the size of the American moose have not been confirmed by the testimony of later travellers, from whose observations it is now clearly ascertained that the only large species of deer inhabiting the northern parts of America are the wapiti or Canadian stag (_Cervus canadensis_), the rein-deer (_C. Tarandus_), and the moose or elk (_C. Alces_).

The peculiar branching of the brow antlers of the rein-deer, and the rounded horns of the wapiti[422], are characters sufficient to prevent us confounding either of these animals with the fossil species.

The palmate form of the horns of the elk gave greater probability to the opinion of its specific identity with the fossil animal.

A little attention, however, to a few circumstances, will shew a most marked difference between them.

First, as to size, the difference is very remarkable, it not being uncommon to find the fossil horns ten feet between the extreme tips[423], while the largest elk’s horns never measure four feet. This measurement in a pair in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, is three feet seven inches: the largest pair seen by Pennant in the house of the Hudson’s Bay Company, measured thirty-four inches[424].

The horn of the elk has two palms, a lesser one which grows forward from the front of the beam, where the principal palm begins to expand. This is called brow antler by Cuvier, but it corresponds in situation rather to the sur-antler, there being, properly speaking, no brow antler attached to the root of the beam. The elk has no posterior antler similar to that of the fossil animal, nor does its beam take a similar arched direction, but runs more directly outwards.

Cuvier remarks, that the palm of the fossil horn increases in breadth as it extends outwardly, while that of the elk is broadest next the beam.

The palm of the elk’s horn is directed more backwards, while the fossil one extends more in the lateral direction. The antlers of the elk are shorter and more numerous than those of the fossil animals.

As the horns of the fossil animal exceed in size those of the elk, so, on the contrary, does the skull of the latter exceed in size that of the former; the largest heads of the fossil species not exceeding one foot nine inches in length, while the head of the elk is frequently two feet. The fossil head is broader in proportion; its length being to its breadth as two to one; in the elk they are as three to one, according to Parkinson.[425] The breadth of the skull between the roots of the horns is but four inches in the fossil skulls; in that of the elk in the Society’s Museum it is 6½ inches.

Cuvier thinks it probable that the females of the fossil species had horns[426], an opinion to which I am very much disposed to subscribe, from having observed that these parts present differences in size and strength, which appear not to be dependent on differences of age. For instance, the teeth of the specimen in Trinity College are much more worn down, and the sutures of the skull are more effaced than in the specimen described in this paper; yet the horns of the latter are much more concave, and more expanded, than those of the former; and on comparing a single horn of each of these specimens together, that belonging to the Society exceeds the other by nearly a sixth in the length, and little less than a third in the breadth; it is not, therefore, unlikely that the animal whose horns were larger and more curved was a male. Something similar to this is observed in the rein-deer, both sexes of which have horns, but with this difference, that they are smaller and less branched in the female. Hence we find that this animal possessed characters of its own sufficient to prove it of a species as distinct from the moose or elk as this latter species is from the rein-deer or any other. Therefore, it is improper to retain the name of elk or moose deer any longer: perhaps it might be better called the _Cervus megaceros_, a name merely expressive of the great size of its horns.

That this animal shed its head furniture periodically, is proved by the occasional occurrence of detached horns having the smooth convex surface below the burr, similar to what is observed on the cast horns of all deer. Specimens of this are to be seen in the Museum of Trinity College, and I possess one myself, of which I have had a drawing made. As every other species of deer shed their horns annually, there is no reason for supposing that that process occurred at longer intervals in this.

It is a popular opinion with the Indians that the elk is subject to epilepsy, with which he is frequently seized when pursued, and thus rendered an easy prey to the hunters. Many naturalists affect to disbelieve this account, without, however, assigning any sufficient reason. But if it be considered, that, during the growth of the horns, there must be a great increased determination of blood to those parts, which are supplied by the frontal artery, a branch from the internal carotid, it is quite conformable to well established pathological principles, to suppose, that, after the horns are perfected, and have ceased to receive any more blood, that fluid may be determined to those internal branches of the carotid which supply the brain, and establish a predisposition to such derangements of its circulation as would produce epilepsy, or even apoplexy: if such an effect were produced in consequence of the size of the horns in the elk, it is reasonable to suppose that it prevailed in a greater degree in the fossil animal whose horns were so much larger.

What could have been the use of these immense horns? It is quite evident that they would prevent the animal making any progress through a thickly wooded country, and that the long, tapering, pointed antlers were totally unfit for lopping off the branches of trees, a use to which the elk sometimes applies his horns[427], and for which they seem well calculated, by having their antlers short and strong, and set along the edge of the palm, somewhat resembling the teeth of a saw in their arrangement. It would rather appear, then, that they were given the animal as weapons for its protection, a purpose for which they seem to have been admirably designed; for their lateral expansion is such, that should occasion require the animal to use them in his defence, their extreme tips would easily reach beyond the remotest parts of his body; and if we consider the powerful muscles for moving the head, whose attachments occupied the extensive surfaces of the cervical vertebræ, with the length of the lever afforded by the horns themselves, we can easily conceive how he could wield them with a force and velocity which would deal destruction to any enemy having the hardihood to venture within their range.

From the formidable appearance of these horns, then, we must suppose that their possessor was obnoxious to the aggressions of some carnivorous animals of ferocious habits; and such we know to have abounded in Ireland, as the wolf, and the celebrated Irish wolf dog. Nor would it be surprising if limestone caves should be discovered in this country, containing the remains of beasts of prey and their victims, similar to the hyænas’ dens of Kirkdale, and other places, respecting which such interesting researches have been lately laid before the public by the geologists of this country and the Continent.

The absence of all record, or even tradition, respecting this animal[428], naturally leads one to inquire whether man inhabited this country during its existence? I think there is presumptive evidence in the affirmative of this question, afforded by the following circumstances. A head of this animal described by Professor Goldfuss of Bonn, was discovered in Germany in the same drain with several urns and stone hatchets; and in the 7th volume of the Archæologia Britannica, is a letter of the Countess of Moira, giving an account of a human body found in gravel, under eleven feet of peat soaked in the bog water: it was in good preservation, and completely clothed in antique garments of hair, which her ladyship thinks might have been that of our fossil animal. But more conclusive evidence on this question is derived from the appearance exhibited by a rib, presented by Archdeacon Maunsell to the Royal Dublin Society, in which I discovered an oval opening near its lower edge, the long diameter of which is parallel to the length of the rib, its margin is depressed on the outer, and raised on the inner surface, round which there is an irregular effusion of callus. This opening had been evidently produced by a sharp pointed instrument, which did not penetrate so deep as to cause the animal’s death, but which remained fixed in the opening for some length of time afterward; in fact it was such an effect as would be produced by the head of an arrow remaining in a wound after the shaft was broken off[429].

It is not improbable, therefore, that the chace of this gigantic animal once supplied the inhabitants of this country with food and clothing.

As to the causes which led to the extinction of this animal, whether it was suddenly destroyed by the deluge, or by some other great catastrophe of nature, or whether it was ultimately exterminated by the continued and successful persecution of its pursuers, as has nearly been the case with the red deer within the recollection of many of the present generation, I profess myself unable to form any decided opinion, owing to the limited number of facts as yet collected on the subject. On some future occasion I may, perhaps, be induced to revert to so interesting a topic, should I have opportunities of discovering any thing worthy of communication.

The following Table exhibits a comparative view of the measurements of different parts of the skeletons of the Cervus Megaceros in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, and in the Royal Museum of the University of Edinburgh, with some parts of the Moose. The measurements of the Edinburgh specimen are taken from Professor Jameson’s memoir on _organic remains_, in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

|R. D. Soc. |U. of Edin.| Moose
HEAD. | Ft. In. | Ft. In. | Ft. In.
| | |
Length of the head, | 1 8½ | 1 8¼ |
Breadth of the skull between | | |
the orbits. | 0 10½ | 0 9 |
Do. of skull at the occiput, | 0 8 | |
Diameter of the orbit, | 0 2⅜ | 0 2½ |
Distance between infra orbitar | | |
holes across the skull, | 0 7 | |
Length of alveolar processes | | |
of the upper jaw, | 0 6 | 0 6 |
Length of lower jaw, | 1 5½ | 0 3½ |
Diam. of foramen magnum, | 0 2 | |
| | |
HORNS. | | |
| | |
Distance between the extreme | | |
tips, measured by the skull, | 11 10 | |
Ditto, in a straight line | | |
across, | 9 2 | 6 8 | 3 7
Length of each horn, | 5 9 | 5 1 |
Greatest breadth of the palm, | 2 10 | |
Length of the beam, | 1 9 | | 0 6½
Ditto of brow antler, | 0 8¾ | |
Ditto of sur-antler, | 1 4 | |
Circumference of the beam | | |
at root of brow antler, | 1 0¾ | | 0 7½
| | |
BODY. | | |
| | |
Length of spine, | 10 10 | 9 8 |
Ditto of sternum, | 2 4 | |
Height to the upper extremity | | |
of the dorsal spines, | 6 6 | |
Ditto to the highest point | | |
of the tip of the horn, | 10 4 | |
| | |
EXTREMITIES. | | |
| | |
Greatest length of the scapula,| 1 6½ | |
Ditto breadth at the base, | 0 10¾ | |
Ditto depth of its spine, | 0 2¾ | |
Length of the humerus, | 1 4 | 1 3½ |
Ditto of ulna and radius, | 1 8 | 1 6 |
Ditto of carpus, | 0 2¾ | 0 2 |
Circumference of do., | 0 9½ | |
Length of metacarpus, | 1 0½ | 1 0½ |
Length of phalanges, | 0 7 | 0 6½ |
From anterior superior spine | | |
of one ileum to that of | | |
the other, | 1 4½ | 1 6½ |
From anterior superior spine | | |
to the tuber ischii, | 1 8 | 1 9½ |
Greatest diameter of | | |
foramen ovale, | 0 4 | 0 3 |
Least do. of do., | 0 2¾ | 0 2¼ |
Length of the femur, | 1 6½ | 1 5½ |
Ditto of tibia, | 1 6 | 1 6 |
Length of the tarsus, | | |
including the os calcis, | 0 8 | |
Ditto of the metatarsus, | 1 1¾ | 1 1¾ |

2. _Account of the Two Living Species of Elephant, and of the Extinct Species of Elephant, or Mammoth._

1. ELEPHAS AFRICANUS.--_The Elephant with rounded skull, large ears, grinders, having rhomboidal-shaped marks on their crown, which we call the African Elephant_ (_Elephas Africanus_), is a quadruped which has hitherto been found only inhabiting Africa. There can be no doubt that it is this species which lives at the Cape, at Senegal, and in Guinea; there is reason to believe that it also occurs at Mosambique; but it is not certain that individuals of the following species do not occur in this part of Africa. A sufficient number of individuals have not been figured or compared, to know if this species presents remarkable varieties. It is it that produces the largest tusks. Both sexes are equally furnished with tusks, at least at Senegal. _The natural number of the hoofs is four before, and three behind._ The ear is very large, and covers the shoulder. The skin is of a deep and uniform brown. This species has not been domesticated in modern times. It appears, however, to have been tamed by the ancients, who attributed to it less power and courage in that state than to the following species; but their observations do not appear to have been confirmed, at least in so far as refers to magnitude. Its natural manners are not perfectly known; yet judging of them by the notices of travellers, they appear to resemble in every thing essential those of the following species.

2. ELEPHAS INDICUS.--_The Elephant with elongated skull, concave forehead, small ears, grinders marked with undulating bands_, which we call the _Indian Elephant_ (_Elephas Indicus_), is a quadruped which has only been observed with certainty beyond the Indus. It extends from both sides of the Ganges to the Eastern Sea and the south of China. They are also found in the Islands of the Indian Sea, in Ceylon, Java, Borneo, Sumatra, &c. There is still no authentic proof that it exists in any part of Africa, although neither is the contrary absolutely proved. The inhabitants of India having from time immemorial been in the habit of taking this species and taming it, it has been much better observed than the other. Varieties have been remarked as to size, lightness of form, the length and direction of the tusks, and the colours of the skin. The females and some of the males have tusks which are always small and straight. The tusks of the other males never attain so great a length as in the African species[430]. _The natural number of the hoofs is five before and four behind._ The ear is small, frequently angular. The skin is commonly grey, spotted with brown. There are individuals entirely white. The height varies from fifteen to sixteen feet. Its manners, the mode of taking it, and of treating it, have been carefully described by many travellers and naturalists, from Aristotle down to Mr Corse Scott.