Star.
London, England, 1824-12-09 00:00:00

DISSECTION 01' AN ELEPHANT.

FROM THE MANCHESTER GAZETTE.
There is no animal that attracts more notice from the
♦isitors to a menagerie, than the elephant; this arises
not only from his amazing bulk, which entitles it to be
considered as a " mountain of ani:nated matter," but
from his docility, and from his possessing a degree of
sagacity superior, perhaps, to that of any other animal.
Dining life, this animal interests the admirer of nature,
but the interest does not terminate with his life, for,
after death, the physiologist turns to a useful purpose
the opportunity afforded him of examining the organs
concerned in producing those functions necessary to the
support of complicated life. It was mentioned in this
Paper, last week, that Mr. Wombwelrs deceased ele-
phant had been purchased by the Natural -History So-
ciety of this town, an Institution well deserving of
public patronage. The dissection of this huge beast was
undertaken by some Gentlemen connected with that
Establishment ; and, in many respects, was carried to
great minuteness ; but there are parts yet to be ex-
amined, and which have been carefully preserved for

that purpose.
The following are among the morbid and natural ap-
pearances which were observed :—On laying open the
cavity of the abdomen, the intestines protruded, owing
to their being much distended with flatus. The abdo-
minal organs in general bore strong marks of inflamma-
tion oa their peritoneal coat, or that membrane which
covers them, but the stomach and intestines were the
most extensively inflamed. The lower part of the in-
testinal canal was obstructed by a considerable accu-
mulation of indurated excrement. Much fluid was
present in the cavity of the abdomen, which doubtless
resulted from inflammation. The lungs adhered to the
ribs, and the portions of these organs In contact with,
the ribs were of a greenish colour, whilst their sub-
stance was red, and filled with grumous blood. The
lungs were pronounced to be in a state of disease. On
opening the pericardium, or heart-purse, it was found
to contain about a quart of sanguineous fluid; naturally
this fluid is transpare.lt, and small in quantity.

After discovering such morbid appearances, we can
not be at a loss to "account for the death of the animal ;
there is no ground whatever for supposing that he died
from poison, as the proprietor conjectured. The thorax
of the elephant is separated from the abdomen by
means of a membrano-muscular septum. called the dia-
phragm, or midriff. In the chest we found the heart
and lungs, and the appendages to these organs. In the
abdomen, the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, pan-
creas, kidnies, bladder, testes, and other parts.
The heart was situated more centrally in the chest
than in the human subject. It was less conical in
figure, and the walls of its cavities more flaccid. There
was nothing particular in the mechanism of this organ,,
excepting the existence of a musculo-tendinous cord
which crossed the right ventricle, and useful, it would
seam, in aiding the contraction of this cavity, and pre-
venting its sides from receding too far from each other.
The aorta, or main trunk of the arterial system was (at
its origin), about 2/1 inches in diameter.—Each lung
consisted of a single lobe only. In the human subject,
the right lung has three, the left two, lobes. The stomach
was about a yard in length. and its proportionate capa-
city much less than in the generality of vegetable
feeders; but the intestinal canal was extremelfcapa-
cious throughout its whole extent, but more especially
at those parts of it named ccecum and colon. The
ccecum was about six feet in circumference, at it 3 largest
part, and the colon about five feet. The liver was
small in proportion to the size of the animal, and it
was without a gall-bladder.
There was nothing worthy of notice in the other
assistant digestive organs, viz. the pancreas and spleen;
their structure and relative connections were much the
same as we find them in the human subject. The kld-
nies were lobulated, not undivided, as in man, at adult
age. The vesica urinaria, when inflated,-was of a pyra-
midal figure, and had a strong muscular coat, some of
the fibres of which were continued, from the bladder,
over the surface of the prostate gland. The testes were
situated in the cavity of the abdomen, just below the
kidnies, and, therefore, occupied the same situation as
they do in the human foetus prior to their descent.
There are, connected with the bones and joints, some
circumstances extremely interesting, and much at
variance with the opinions of some celebrated writers
on these subjects. Indeed, in the few accounts pubs
fished of the dissection of the elephant, there appear,
many discrepancies, which the results of the present
dissection, when put into a more digested form, will,
most probably, go some way towards expo,ing the
minute peculiarities which have been discovered, and
others which may yet be discovered, by further research,
shall not be withheld from the natural historian. Com-
parative anatony is a study of considerable importance.
The dissection of animals of great bulk will often
enable us to determine points in human anatomy admit-
ting of controversy, on account of their minuteness,
which obliges us to substitute conjecture and induction
for actual inspection ; but the study is susceptible of
abuie. From the dissection of brutes, the earliest ana-
tomists derived their notions of the human body ; they
described and reasneed from the apyearances which
they observed in animals, and transferred them, by ana-
logy, to man. This, however, was a source of the
grossest errors, and it will be obvious how it was so,
when we know the differences which exist between the
form and general arrangement of organs in different
animals. Although comparative anatomy cannot su-
persede the necessity of studyiqg the human organiza-
tion, physiology derives the greatest assistance from
these sciences, when combined so as to understand the
operations of the animal economy. We must examine,
compare, and see how the same ends are accomplished
in the various classes of animals. It we find one common
effect, we may fairly say, to what purpose the organ,
or part, is subservient ; for reasoning, founded on such
facts, can never betray us into error.
The outhouse in which the dissection took place was
broken into, and the inflated intestines carried off !

While almost every part of Europe is suffering from
the overflowing of rivers, that great source of fertility
in Egypt—the Nile, is said to have failed this season in
sliffusiug its waters to the usual extent; she consequence
of which will, it is feared, be a deficient crop of grain.
Yesterday evening, an Inquest was held in the Com-
mittee•room of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, before T.
"MILTON, Esq. Coroner, on the body of Thomas Clarke,
aged forty, a carpenter, in the employ of Mr. Peto, the
builder, who fell from a building in the Regent's Park,
height of sixtj•eight feet, and died on his way to the
Hospital. Vetdict—Accidental Death.