[49] Machlis (said to be derived from α, priv., and κλίνω, _cubo_, quod non cubat). “Moreover in the island of Scandinavia there is a beast called _Machlis_, that hath neither ioynt in the hough, nor pasternes in his hind legs, and therefore he never lieth down, but sleepeth leaning to a tree, wherefore the hunters that lie in wait for these beasts cut downe the trees while they are asleepe, and so take them; otherwise they should never be taken, they are so swift of foot that it is wonderful.” (PLINY, _Natur. Hist._ Transl. Philemon Holland, book viii. ch. xv. p. 200.) [50] “Sunt item quæ appellantur _Alces_. Harum est consimilis capreis figura, et varietas pellium; sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt, mutilæque sunt cornibus, _et crura sine nodis articulisque habent_; neque quietis causa procumbunt; neque, si quo afflictæ casu considerunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus; ad eas sese applicant, atque ita, paulum modo reclinatæ, quietem capiunt, quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consueverint, omnes eo loco, aut a radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores tantum, ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur. Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverint, infirmas arbores pondere affligunt, atque una ipsæ concidunt.” (CÆSAR, _De Bello Gall._ lib. vi. ch. xxvii.) The same fiction was extended by the early Arabian travellers to the rhinoceros, and in the MS. of the voyages of the “_Two Mahometans_,” it is stated that the rhinoceros of Sumatra “n’a point d’articulation au genou ni à la main.” (_Relations des Voyages_, _etc._ Paris, 1845, vol. i. p. 29.) [51] EVELYN, who was a contemporary and friend of Sir Thomas Browne, observes in his diary, August 13, 1641, on arriving at Rotterdam, “here I first saw an elephant: it was a beast of a monstrous size, yet as flexible and nimble in the joints, contrary to the vulgar tradition, as could be imagined from so prodigious a bulk and strange fabric.” (Vol. i. p. 20.) [52] In his _Natural History_, ARISTOTLE speaks of Ctesias as οὐκ ὣν ἀξιόπιστος. (L. viii. c. 27.) [53] “When an animal moves progressively an hypothenuse is produced, which is equal in power to the magnitude that is quiescent, and to that which is intermediate. But since the members are equal, it is necessary that the member which is quiescent should be inflected either in the knee or in the incurvation, _if the animal that walks is without knees_. It is possible, however, for the leg to be moved, when not inflected, in the same manner as infants creep; and there is an ancient report of this kind about elephants, which is not true, for such animals as these, _are moved in consequence of an inflection taking place either in their shoulders or hips_.” (ARISTOTLE, _De Ingressu Anim._ ch. ix. Taylor’s Transl.)