Numerous remains of elephants have been found in Italy; and, although a
very considerable number of elephants were brought from Africa into that
country, yet the vast extent through which these remains have been
found, and the great probability that the Italians, particularly the
Romans, would have known enough of the value of ivory, to have prevented
them from committing the tusks to the earth, lead to the belief, that by
far the greater number of these remains which have been dug up, have
been deposited here, not by the hands of man, but by the changes that
the surface of this globe has undergone, at very remote periods. The
circumstances, indeed, under which many of these have been found, afford
indubitable proof of this fact.
In France, where it is well known that living elephants have been much
less frequent, at least in times of which we have any record, than
either in Italy or Greece, their fossil remains have been found in a
great number of places, and in situations which prove their deposition
at a very remote period. The whole valley through which the Rhine
passes, yields fragments of this animal, and perhaps more numerously on
the side of Germany than on that of France. Not only in its course, but
in the alluvia of the several streams which empty themselves into it,
are these fossil remains also found. Thus Holland abounds with them, and
even the most elevated parts of the Batavian kingdom are not exempt from
them. Germany and Switzerland appear particularly to abound in these
wonderful relics. The greater number found in these parts, is, perhaps,
as is observed by M. Cuvier, not attributable to their greater
abundance, but to the number of well-informed men, capable of making the
necessary researches, and of reporting the interesting facts they
discover. As in the banks of the Rhine, so in those of the Danube, these
fossils abound. In the valley of Altmuhl is a grand deposit of these
remains. The bones which have been found at Krembs, in Sweden; at Baden,
near Vienna; in Moravia; in different parts of Hungary and of
Transylvania; at the foot of the Hartz; in Hesse; at Hildesheim—all
appear to be referable to this animal. So also are those which are found
on the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. Different parts of the British
empire are not less productive of these remains. In London, Brentford,
Harwich, Norwich, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire,
Salisbury, and, indeed, in several other parts of Great Britain,
different remains of these animals have been found. When we add to those
places which have been already enumerated, Scandinavia, Norway, Iceland,
Russia, Siberia, Tunis, parts of North America, and Ibarra, in the
northern part of Equador, it will appear that there is hardly a part in
the known world, whose subterranean productions are known to us, in
which these animal remains have not been discovered. M. Cuvier is
satisfied, from the actual comparison of several skulls of the
East-Indian and African elephants, that different specific characters
exist in them respectively. In the Indian elephant, the top of the skull
is raised in a kind of double pyramid; but in the African it is nearly
rounded. In the Indian the forehead is concave, and in the African it is
rather convex. Several other differences exist, not necessary to be here
particularized, which seem to be fully sufficient to mark a difference
of species. A cursory view is sufficient to enable us to determine that
the ordinary fossil teeth of elephants are not those of the African
species, and it may be further said, that the greater number of these
teeth bear a close resemblance to those of the East-Indian species,
showing, on their masticating surface, bands of an equal thickness
through their whole length, and rudely crenulated. So great, indeed, is
the resemblance, that Pallas, and most other writers, have considered
the fossil elephant as being of the same species with the Asiatic. M.
Cuvier, anxious to discover the degree of accordance of the fossil
elephant’s skeleton with that of the 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; the post-orbital apophysis of the frontal bone is
longer, more pointed, and more crooked; and the tubercle of the os
lachrymalis is considerably larger, and more projecting. To these
peculiarities of the fossil skull, M. Cuvier thinks, may be added the
parallelism of the molares. Comparing together the bones of the Asiatic
and of the African elephant, he was able to discover some differences
between them, as well as between those and some of the fossil bones
which he possessed. These latter he found, in general, approached
nearest to those of the Asiatic elephant. He concludes with supposing
that the fossil remains are of a species differing more widely from the
Asiatic elephant than the horse does from the ass, and therefore does
not think it impossible but that it might have existed in a climate that
would have destroyed the elephant of India.
It may, therefore, be assumed as certain, from the observations of M.
Cuvier, that at least one species of elephants has existed, of which
none are now known to be living; and, should the difference of structure
which has been pointed out in some of the fossil teeth, be admitted as
sufficient to designate a difference of species, it may be then said,
that there exist the fossil remains of, at least, two species of
elephants, which were different from those with which we are acquainted.
From the preceding observations it appears, then, that the fossil
elephantine remains, notwithstanding their resemblance in some respects
to the bones of the Asiatic elephant, have belonged to one or more
species, different from those which are now known. This circumstance
agrees with the facts of the fossil remains of the tapir and rhinoceros,
which appear to have differed materially from the living animals of the
same genera. The remains of elephants obtained from Essex, Middlesex,
Kent, and other parts of England, confirm the observation of Cuvier,
that these remains are generally found in the looser and more
superficial parts of the earth, and most frequently in the alluvia which
fill the bottoms of the valleys, or which border the beds of rivers.
They are generally found mingled with the bones of other quadrupeds of
known genera, such as those of the rhinoceros, ox, horse, &c., and
frequently, also, with the remains of marine animals.