. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . rally grave and sedate, one may read in his eyes the order and outwardappearance of his interior affections. MAMMALIA-ELEPHANT. 287 He has a quick ear, and this organ is outwardly, like that of smell-ing, more marked in the elephant than in any other animal ; his ears arevery large, even in proportion to his body; they are flat, and close to thehead, like those of a man ; they commonly hang down, but he raises themup, and moves them with great facility ; he make
. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . rally grave and sedate, one may read in his eyes the order and outwardappearance of his interior affections. MAMMALIA-ELEPHANT. 287 He has a quick ear, and this organ is outwardly, like that of smell-ing, more marked in the elephant than in any other animal ; his ears arevery large, even in proportion to his body; they are flat, and close to thehead, like those of a man ; they commonly hang down, but he raises themup, and moves them with great facility ; he makes use of them to wipe hiseyes, and to cover them against the inconveniency of dust and flies. Hedelights in the sound of instruments, and seems to like music; he soonlearns to beat time, and to move accordingly; he seems animated by thebeat of the drum and the sound of trumpets; he has an exquisite smell, andis passionately fond of perfumes of all sorts, and of fragrant flowers; heselects them one after another, and makes nosegays, which he smells witheagerness, and then carries them to his mouth as if he intended to His sense of feeling centres in his trunk; but it is as delicate and asdistinct in that sort of hand as in that of man ; this trunk, composed ofmembranes, nerves, and muscles, is, at the same time, a member capableof motion, and an organ of sense; the animal can not only move and bendit, but he can shorten, lengthen, and turn it all ways. The extremityofthis trunk terminates by an edge, which projects above like a finger; it iswith this sort of finger that the elephant does whatever we do with ours,he picks up from the ground the smallest pieces of money ; he gathers nutsand flowers, choosing them one after another; he unties knots, opens andshuts doors, turning the keys, and bolts them; he learns to draw regularcharacters with an instrument as small as a pen. 288 MAMMALIA—ELEPHANT. Although the elephant has a more retentive memory, and more intelli-g
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
