Essay on the Theory of the EarthCuvier, Georges, baron
Science
Essay on the Theory of the Earth
Cuvier, Georges, baron
Geology; Paleontology
The Rhinoceros of Sumatra described by Mr Bell; and that of Java,
discovered and sent home by Messrs Duvaucel and Diard, do not appear
to inhabit the continent. Hence, it is not surprising, that the
ancients should have been ignorant of them; besides, they probably
would not have distinguished them from the others.
The Hippopotamus has not been so well described as the preceding
animals; yet very exact representations of it have been left by the
Romans in their monuments relative to Egypt, such as the statue of
the Nile, the Palestrine pavement, and a great number of medals.
In fact, this animal was repeatedly seen by the Romans; having been
exhibited by Scaurus, Augustus, Antoninus, Commodus, Heliogabalus,
Philip, and Carinus[34].
The two species of Camel, the Bactrian and Arabian, are both very
well described and characterized by Aristotle[35].
The Giraffe, or Camelopard (Camel-Leopard), was also well known to
the ancients. A live one was shewn at Rome, in the circus, during
the dictatorship of Julius Cæsar, in the year of Rome 708; and ten
of them were exhibited together by Gordian III. all of which were
killed at the secular games of Philip[36], a circumstance which
may well surprise the moderns, who have only witnessed a single
individual, which was sent by the Soldan of Egypt to Laurentius de
Medicis, in the fifteenth century, and is painted in the frescoes of
Poggio-Cajano.
If we read with attention the descriptions of the Hippopotamus,
given by Herodotus and Aristotle, and which are supposed to have
been borrowed from Hecatæus of Miletum, we shall find, that they
must have been made up from two different animals, one of which
was perhaps the true hippopotamus, and the other was assuredly the
Gnou[37], a quadruped, of which our naturalists begin to take notice
only about the end of the eighteenth century. It is the same animal
of which fabulous accounts were given by Pliny and Ælian, under the
name of _catoblepas_ and _catablepon_[38].
The Ethiopian Boar of Agatharchides, which is described as having
horns, is precisely the Ethiopian Boar of modern times, the enormous
tusks of which deserve the name of horns nearly as much as those of
the elephant[39].
The Bubalus and Nagor are described by Pliny[40]; the Gazelle by
Ælian[41]; the Oryx by Oppian[42]; the Axis, so early as the time of
Ctesias[43]; and the Algazel, and Corinne, are accurately figured
upon the Egyptian monuments[44].
Ælian has well described the _Bos grunniens_ or Yak, under the name
of the ox having a tail which serves for a fly-flapper[45].
The Buffalo was not domesticated by the ancients; but the Indian Ox,
of which Ælian speaks[46], and which had horns large enough to hold
three amphoræ, was assuredly that variety of the buffalo which is
now called the _arnee_. And even the wild ox with depressed horns,
which is mentioned by Aristotle as inhabiting Arachosia, a province
of ancient Persia, could be nothing else than the common buffalo[47].
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