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CHAMBERS'S

ENCYCLOPÆDIA:

A DICTIONARY

ОР

UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE.

ILLUSTRATED.

AMERICAN REVISED EDITION.

IN TEN VOLUMES.

VOL. IV.

PHILADELPHIA:

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & Co.

1883.

HARVARE
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

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which would be too violent a motion for its con. formation and huge body, but a sort of shuffle, the speed of which is increased or diminished without other alteration. The E. is incapable of springing like the deer, horse, and other animals which have the bones of their shoulders and hocks set at an angle.

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ELEPHANT (Gr. Elephas), a genus of quadrupeds, of the order Pachydermata (q. v.), and of the Bection Proboscidea. Elephants are the largest existing land animals. The ordinary height at the shoulder is about eight feet, but sometimes exceeds ten feet. The weight of a large E. is about five tons, the body being very bulky in proportion to its height. To sustain this weight, it is furnished with limbs of colossal thickness and strength, which are also remarkably straight, each bone resting vertically on that beneath it. From the appearance of inflexibility presented by the limbs, arose the notion prevalent among the ancients, and throughout the middle ages, that the limbs are destitute of joints, and that consequently an E. cannot lie down to rest like another quadruped, and if it were to lie down, could not rise again, but always sleeps standing, or leaning against a tree. It is indeed true that the E. often sleeps standing, and when fatigued, falls asleep leaning against a rock or tree, against which it may have been rubbing itself. The flexibility of the limbs is, however, sufficient to permit elephants to run with speed nearly equal to that of a horse, to indulge in playful gambols, and to ascend and descend steep mountains. Elephants are more sure-footed and serviceable than either horses or mules, in difficult mountain roads. On the very steepest declivities, an E. works his way down pretty rapidly, even with a howdah and its occupants upon his back, his chest and belly on the ground, and each fore-foot employed in making a hole for itself, into which the hind foot afterwards follows it, and to which the weight may be trusted, that another step may be ventured with safety. In lying down, the E. does not bring his hind-legs under him, like the horse and other quad- The nasal bones of the E. are scarcely more than rupeds, but extends them backwards (as man does rudimentary; but the tapering proboscis, to the when he assumes the kneeling position), an arrange- very extremity of which the nostrils are prolonged, ment which, by enabling him to draw the hind-feet is nearly eight feet in length. Besides the great gradually under him, assists him to rise almost muscles connected with it at its base, it is composed without a perceptible effort.' The E.'s pace, when of a vast multitude of small muscles variously inter exceeding a walk, is neither a trot nor a gallop, laced, but chiefly either longitudinal, and divided

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The head in elephants is large; the neck is short and thick, the long flexible proboscis compensating both for the shortness of the neck, and for the inflexibility caused by the largely developed processes of its vertebrae, and enabling the animal readily to reach objects on the ground, or to a height of several feet above its head, or on either side. great extent of bony surface in the head afforda attachment for muscles destined to move and give power to the proboscis or trunk. This extent of bony surface is provided in a remarkable manner, which at the same time makes the head, heavy as it is, lighter in proportion to its bulk than is usual in quadrupeds; a great space separating the internal and external tables of all the bones of the skull, except the occipital bones, so that the space occupied by the brain is but a small part of the whole head. The space between the tables of the bones is occupied by cells, some of which are four or five inches in length; others are small, irregular, and honeycomb-like; these all communicate with each other, and through the frontal sinuses with the cavity of the nose, and also with the tympanum or drum of each ear; consequently, as in some birds, these cells are filled with air.' The huge and extraordinary bones of the skull, besides affording attachment for muscles, afford mechanical support to the tusks.

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