Anatomy of the Indian elephant / by L.C. Miall and F. Greenwood.

  • Miall, L. C. (Louis Compton), 1842-1921.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy of the Indian elephant / by L.C. Miall and F. Greenwood. 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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    Pierre Camper dissected an elephant in the winter of 1774. The work lasted less than three weeks. Camper had subsequently several opportunities of examining elephants of both sexes, and it was his intention to prepare a full anatomical description. He died, however, in 1789, leaving only the plates, an index to the figures, and the titles of the chapters which were to have composed the text. The published description, which is of some value, though by no means full, was drawn up by his son, A. G. Camper. The plates are free and taste- ful, without much detail; they contain useful matter respecting the chief viscera, but only the most meagre notes of myology. Hunter’s notes are excellent, especially the account of the female generative organs. Cuvier dissected a male elephant in 1805,1 assisted by his pupils and by the painter Mardchal. He subsequently dissected two other specimens, a male and a female. The results appear in his post- humous Recueil de Planches de Myologie, published by Laurillard. The plates are not good. We find drawings only, without descriptive text, and the letters of designation are not always rightly affixed. Everywhere the want of the master’s eye seems apparent. Though most of the details are correct, it is necessary to warn future students that hardly anything can be taken on trust from these plates. In the present memoir a systematic comparison with our own dissections has been made. Mayer’s dissection is given very briefly. Many of the muscles are merely named. We have found several mistakes of importance in this short account. Owen, R.—Odontography, pp. 625-655, pi. 146-150. London (1840-1845). Perrault, Cl.—Mtmoires de VAauUmie Royale des Sciences, tom. iii. part iii. p. 161, pi. xxiii. (1734). Describes the African Elephant in Mimoires pour servir A VHistoire Naturelle des Animaux, vol. ii. Amsterdam (1758). Seba, Albert.—Locupletissimi rerum naturalium Thesauri accurata descriptio, &c., vol. i. tab. iii. Amst. fol. (1734-1765). [Foetus of Elephant.] Serrao.—Opuscoli di vario Argomento. Napoli, 4to, fig. (1766). Stukeley.—Essay towards the Anatomy of the Elephant (1723). On the Spleen and Anatomy of an Elephant. London, fol. (1733). Suply.—Remarques anatomiques sur un elephant ouvert au fort Saint-Geor^es (1715). Turner, W.—Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy of the Placenta, 1st series, Edinburgh (1876). [Relates some Observations on the Structure of the Placenta in the Elephant.] Vulpian et Philippaux.—Notes sur le coeur, le foie et les poumons d’un elephant (femelle). Ann. Sci. Nat. Zoologie, vol. v. (1856), Watson, Morrison, M. D.—Contributions to the Anatomy of the Indian Elephant. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1871-74. Observations in Human and Comparative Anatomy. Edinburgh (1874). Zimmermann, E. A. W.— Beschreibung und Abbildung eines Neugebornen Elephanten. Erlangen, 4to (1783). 1 Deleuze, “ History and Description of the Royal Museum of Natural History,” Eng. Trans, vol. i. p. 91.