We now come to the examination of one of the most stupendous animals
known, either in a recent or a fossil state; one which, whether we
contemplate its original mode of existence, or the period at which it
lived, can not but fill our minds with astonishment. The first traces of
this animal are sketched in a letter from Dr. Mather, of Boston, to Dr.
Woodward, in 1712, and are transcribed from a work in manuscript,
entitled _Biblia Americana_. In this work, teeth and bones of prodigious
size, supposed to be human, are said to have been found near what is now
Albany, in the state of New York. About the year 1740, numerous similar
bones were found in Kentucky, on the Ohio, and were dispersed among the
European virtuosi. Many bones of this animal were found, in 1799, in the
state of New York, in a large plain, bounded on every side by immense
mountains, in the vicinity of Newburg, situated on the Hudson or North
river. These remains have also been found on the side of the Alleghany
mountains, in the interior parts of Pennsylvania and Carolina, and in
New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia. And quite lately (1854) the tusks
of a mastodon, apparently of enormous size, were discovered protruding
from the inclined side of a marshy declivity, a few miles from the city
of Poughkeepsie. Measures were immediately taken to excavate the place
and exhume the skeleton. We are informed that the work thus far has been
remarkably successful, and the condition of the skeleton such as to
promise the security of the most perfect specimen of the mastodon ever
found. The location is extremely favorable. The excavation, which is
prosecuted under the direction of Professor Morse, the discoverer of the
magnetic telegraph, who resides at Poughkeepsie, has succeeded as far as
the head and shoulders of the mammoth. The bones are partially petrified
as far as the exhumation has extended, and this promises the recovery of
the entire skeleton in a more perfect state than any yet discovered. If
our information is correct, and it emanates from an entirely responsible
source, an object of great interest will be added to the science and
study of natural history.
From a careful attendance to every circumstance, M. Cuvier conceives we
have a right to conclude, that this great mastodon, or animal of the
Ohio, did not surpass the elephant in hight, but was a little longer in
proportion, its limbs rather thicker, and its belly smaller. It seems to
have very much resembled the elephant in its tusks, and, indeed, in the
whole of its osteology; and it also appears to have had a trunk. But,
notwithstanding its resemblance to the elephant, in so many particulars,
the form and structure of the grinders are sufficiently different from
those of the elephant, to demand its being placed in a distinct genus.
From the later discoveries respecting this animal, M. Cuvier is also
inclined to suppose that its food must have been similar to that of the
hippopotamus and the boar, but preferring the roots and fleshy parts of
vegetables; in the search of which species of food it would, of course,
be led to such soft and marshy spots as it appears to have inhabited. It
does not, however, appear to have been at all formed for swimming, or
for living much in the waters, like the hippopotamus, but rather seems
to have been entirely a terrestrial animal.