A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: including historical and scientific notices of the various objects of art, literature, natural history, anatomical preparations, antiquities, &c., in that celebrated collection / by J. Laskey.

  • Hunterian Museum (University of Glasgow)
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: including historical and scientific notices of the various objects of art, literature, natural history, anatomical preparations, antiquities, &c., in that celebrated collection / by J. Laskey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a quantity of bones found in the state of New York, in the vicinity of New- Salons* burgh, which is situated on the Hudson, or N. River, together with the right — of digging for the remainder. In 1801 he made every exertion to discover Left them without effect. After several attempts at various situations he wasenab- Apartment led by collecting a sufficient number of bones to form almost two complete — skeletons, one of which he exhibited in London about the year 1802, which Fossils. the author frequently contemplated with wonder and delight. In his des- *— criprion of the skeleton, Vlr. Peale agreed with Dr. Hunter, that it must Case No.3. have been a carnivorous animal, from the formation of the teeth, the disposi- tion of the enamel, the incapacity of the jaw for lateral motion, and from the condyloid process, which is finished with an oblong head, being inserted in- to a transverse groove, which, to him, was sufficient reason for this opinion. The teeth of the upper and lower jaws when shut, he observes, must have had their points and depressions fit into each other, like the teeth of two saws; and whilst shut must have been immoveable laterally, and consequently inca- pable of triturating, like the teeth of graminivorous animals. That it could not be an Elephant, as the root or fangs of the teeth are inserted into the mass of bone, which not only surrounds the roots, but divides one root from the other; whereas in the Elephant the grinders occupy one large and uni- form cavity from which they are gradually protruded. A comparison may easily be made from the fossil specimens of the teeth of Elephants also in this Case. Lastly, these astonishing remains have been strictly examined by the illus- trious Cuvier in the 46th No of the Annals of the National Museum of Natu- ral History at Paris. The grinders, he observes, are formed of two substances only; an internal bony substance, and a thick coat of enamel: the form of their crown is in general rectangular, the hinder ones being rather narrowed be- hind. The crown is divided by widely-spreading grooves into a certain num- ber of transverse risings, each of which is divided in the contrary direction into two large obtuse, and somewffiat quadrangular and pyramidicai points; the whole crown when not worn being beset with large points disposed in pairs. Mons. Cuvier particularizes three sorts of these grinders, nearly square, with three pair of points; rectangular with eight points; and others still long- er with five pair of points; and a single smaller one. A remarkable circum- stance attends the appearance of these teeth, as those with three pair are gene- rally much worn, those with eight points are less worn, and those with five pair, &c. are seldom worn in the least; and he argues from these appearances their various situations; those with three points being the foremost, and ap- pearing the first; whilst those with ten are the hindmost, and appear the last. From observations made on the several lower jaws which have been found, it appears that the two first sorts of teeth may exist in the mouth of the ani- mal at the same time; but that those of the latter sort follow the others, Mons. Cuvier says, perhaps there may have been, in the infancy of the ani- mal, a to.'th with four points, which would be cast early. This he was led to conjecture, from having been informed by M. de Beauvois, that in a jaw belonging to Dr. Barton, there appeared to be marks of an alveolus before the tooth with Six points. There can be little doubt but that the teeth succeed- ed to each other as in the Elephant, there never, however, being more in the mouth at once than two, and at last only one. For want ol attending to this succession of the teeth, and supposing many of these teeth to have existed in the mouth at the same time, very erroneous conjectures have been formed respecting the size of this animal. Thus Buffon observes, that the square form of these enormous grinders prove that several were in the jaw at the same time. Epoques de la Nature, Notes Just if. 9. But if we suppose there were six or even four on each side of each jaw, how enor- mous must that head have been which contained at least sixteen such teeth ( Reckoning on these fallacious grounds, he concludes tire animal must have far