The brows are
placed over the junction of two bones, which is the reason that in old
age they often become so bushy as to require cutting. The lashes are
set at the terminations of small blood-vessels. For the vessels come
to an end where the skin itself terminates; and, in all places where
these endings occur, the exudation of moisture of a corporeal
character necessitates the growth of hairs, unless there be some
operation of nature which interferes, by diverting the moisture to
another purpose.
16
Viviparous quadrupeds, as a rule, present no great variety of form
in the organ of smell. In those of them, however, whose jaws project
forwards and taper to a narrow end, so as to form what is called a
snout, the nostrils are placed in this projection, there being no
other available plan; while, in the rest, there is a more definite
demarcation between nostrils and jaws. But in no animal is this part
so peculiar as in the elephant, where it attains an extraordinary
and strength. For the elephant uses its nostril as a hand; this
being the instrument with which it conveys food, fluid and solid
alike, to its mouth. With it, too, it tears up trees, coiling it round
their stems. In fact it applies it generally to the purposes of a
hand. For the elephant has the double character of a land animal,
and of one that lives in swamps.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99