Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-03-26

bear and the seal. His whole existence is
just an effort to keep alive, to get blubber
and skins enough to generate and keep in
his body vital heat. He can think of nothing
else; he has room for no other mental effort.
We see the same things in our diaries and
accounts of the polar exploration fanatics.
it would be the most painful reading in the
world If it were not so monotonous. Each
one tells exactly the same story-the story of
his physical struggle to keep alive with the
thermometer fifty degrees below zero. Soon
the mind has no other occupation than this
struggle. 1t almost ceases to work in any
other direction. This is interesting to us at
first as study of the capacity of the human
organism to resist the unrestraiued attacks
of nature. The experience of person who
should in this latitude, in winter, retire to
in ice-house, with hatchet and a supply of
frozen hash, a whale-oil lamp, and fur
overcoat and body-bag, and sit on the ice in
the darkness, and record his feelings, the
gradual lowering of the vital powers, the
concentration of the mind upon the numb
ness of his legs, would doubtless have a
physiological interest. But the second expert
menter wouldss not interest his readers so
much as the first with his narrative.
Arfstotle's Ideas of an Elephant.
IFrom Aristotle Zoologist,'' by F. A. Fer
nald, in Popular Science Monthly for April.l
Let US inquire how far Cuviers statement
that Everywhere Aristotle observes facts
with attention" is true. In describing the
elephant Aristotle tells many things correct
ly, but some very incorrectly, so that it is a
question whether he ever saw this animal in
his life. He affirms that it has no nails on
its toes, though he correctly refers to the
toes, which are scarcely distinguished The
nails of the elephant are one of the points
which the natives of India always regard as
a well-bred animal, and are usually conspic-
uous. Let us take another point, the ''gray-
headed error that the elephant has no
joints. Aristotle says: ''The elephant is
down and bend his legs, as some persons
have said, but from his great weight he is
unable to bend them on both sides at once,
but leans either to the right side or the left,
and sleeps in this position That is to say, !,
the elephant, having bent fore-leg, can
not then bend the other so as to kneel with
both, which is contrary to fact. Although
in this passage Aristotle demolishes the alb
surd statement that the elephant has no
knee Joints, yet, in his treatise on the ''Pro
gressive Motions of Animals, :" he seems to
leave the matter in doubt. After showing
that without infection there can be no pro-
gression, he says: Progression, however,
is possible without infection of the legs, in
the same manner as infants creep; and there
is an ancient story of this kind about ele-
plants, which is not true, for such nimals
move because infection takes place in their
shoulder blades or hips.'' The existence of
animals without knees is again supposed by
this remark: "Since the members equal,
infection must be made in the knee, OF in
some joint, if the animal that walks is desti-
tute of knees If Aristotle had ever seen
an elephant move, is it not probable that he
would have spoken more decidedly and cor
rectly on these points? But the most aston
ishing assertion is that ''the elephant cannot
swim on account of the weight of its body!''