The elephants : die Rüssel-Tiere, Proboscidea, Sslonn(u) : (a zoological mnemonic) / by Richard John Anderson.

  • Anderson, Richard John, 1848-1914.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The elephants : die Rüssel-Tiere, Proboscidea, Sslonn(u) : (a zoological mnemonic) / by Richard John Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Yet, beside the hard dry force, There's the Organic kind of course ; Which, tho' its work goes oft with waste. Proves Nature is not straitly ],aced. Wliat would our world of rock be then, Without its elephants (and men). Brave Bacchus, at an early date, Did snout beasts tame, so people state Trained them to harness better far Than inaking tigers draw his car. Bacchus, vig'rous god of wine, Had skill the future to divine, And with Apollo he has shared. The Delphian Oracle we've heard For learning, also, let us say, He was distinguished, in a way. Inventions, hidden facts, and such. Unlocked their doors when he did touch. The zeal for knowledge, by him fired. Led to new truths for man acquired. He practised too the healing art. And in protecting trees took part. Then of the scenic stories he Was good a patron as could be. He seems to have encouraged rhyme : It goes without him in our time. [And tho' he's madman called by Homer, Blindness (?) accounts for that misnomer.] Lycurgus saw with much alarm That wine to men is fraught with harm, DecUned to let his garden grow The tree that Bacchus loved so. He did not see that into good. The foulest evil may intrude ; So planted was the cheerful vine, Of life and light the constant sign ; And then the elephant was tamed. The largest beast on land that's named ;