The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-08
ABOUT ELEPHANTS.
BELIEF THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED
WITH SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE.


by Other Misunderstanding Stories
About Thom-Tho First One brought to
This Country.
Elephants never go to sleep without
leaving ono of the herd awake to keep
watch and give warning III case of in
uusion. Go into the big menagerio tent
Oh tho show any night after tho ele-
phants havo gone to sleep, or go into
one OF the elephant cars OH Il night run,
ana you will find that, no matter hoW
quietly and stealthily you have entered,
the eye Of one member of tho herd is
upon you.
Conklin believes, as do most all elo-
plant keepers, that the animal can un-
derstand what is said to it. Indeed,
trainers assert that it has moro intelli-
Eence than any other animal, and that
1t IS the only one that can be taught to
mind by word OF mouth, without other
cues. That it is endowed to Il limited
extent with reasoning powers is certain.
one German philosopher thinks he has
discovered that this mental development
Is due to the fact that in tho trunk tho
elephant possesses Il prehensile organ
similar to the hand of man. The hand,
he asserts, has played moro important
part III the development of the human
intellect than any other agency, since it
BRINGS It's p0SseSsOr into moro intimate
relations with tho external world than
any other organ. Some mcnagcric man,
With more practical observation than
tho German professor and smaller
bump of thcoriZing, las pointed out that
the only flaw in this reasoning is that
II 1t is correct the gorillas and chimpan-
ices ought to have Il higher mental de-
Velopment than man, because they have
four good hands instead of two, and any
one OF tho four is stronger than the
eight hands of four men.
Well authenticated stories of tho
sagaclty of elephants are so numerous
that 1T IS never necessary to resort to eX-
aggeration to say something interesting
about them. In their wild state tho
leader Of herd has been seen when ap-
proaching swampy ground to extend ono
foot to try its solidity before trusting
his weight to it, When satisfied of it's
firmness, no would go confidently on,
and the whole herd would follow in
single file, cautiously stepping in tho
tho entire herd had thus passed the
ground would look us if Il single animal
h'd gone that way The same trait Of
caution is preserved in tho domestcated
animal. The action is not the result Of
training, but Il brute instinct always dis
played and bearing Il striking resem-
b!ailco TO reason.
When Jumbo tried to butt fast
freight off from the Grand Trunk tracks
III III effort TO save the baby of the Bar
mum herd, Tom Thumb, aud lost his
lie III the attempt it was said that his
action gave unmiStakable evidence Of
reason, though 1t was poor testimony to
ms Judgment that he SO greatly under
estimated the force of the locomotive.
In the matter of the food value of diff
1erent materials tho reasoning power of
the elephant is very faulty, however.
lie VIII cat almost anything that comes
his way. If a canvasman leaves Il coat
N vest hanging ON quarter pole with
III reach OF All elephant, the big brute
VIII edge over toward it and watch IN
opportunity when unobscrvcd to touch
1t with his trunk. Then he will begin
to haul it toward him, putting in rolls
of hay and chewing them between times.
AS soon us the garment is ut his feet tho
elephant will put ono Of his pondcrous
five hoofod pedals on it and begin TO
tear it up, rolling tho pieces in his
trunk and stuifing them into his mouth.
The solo OF "a shoe is just as good for
him to chew on as wisp of hay, and
his natural instinct of mischief inclines
him TO prefer that which he knows is
forbidden him.
The first elephant brought to America
Tor exhibition purposes was Old Bet,
ana 1t has often been remarked that tho
American circus was built on her shoul-
ders Different accounts fail to agree in
regard to the date of her importation,
which is placed all the way from l776
to 1888 by different writer's of old time
"reminiscences. Old Bet was brought
over III the ship America, of which Can
tain Crowningshiold was master, and
she landed according to tho harbor rec
ords, iii Philadelphia i'll April, 179S.
She was bn0 feet high, and the sum
OF $4,000 was paid for her, tho largest
price that had been paid up to that time
for any animal, either here or in En-
rope. She WAS first exhibited i'll Phila-
delphia anc astonished the public daily
by drawing ;hc corks from 30 BOTTLES
of beer and drinking the contents. On
tho goth OF June, 1898, she passed
through New York Gil the way to Bos-
ton.
Old Bet had been bought Oh the COM
munity plan by number of farmers of
Putnam county, N. Y, at the instance
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