e of the Asiatic Researches, in which some important questions, which we were then obliged to leave in uncertainty, seem to be decided by John Corse, Esq. They relate, 1st, To the mode in which elephants copulate; which Buffon affirms (and in proof of his assertion reduces the structure and position of the generative organ in the female) to be performed while that female remains recumbent on the back; but which Mr Corse infers, from ocular evidence, takes place after the manner in which the horse copulates with the mare. 2nd, To the method of receiving nourishment from the mother; which is not, as Buffon avers, by the trunk, but by the mouth, which sucks the dug, while the trunk of the young animal grasps it round to press out the milk. 3rd, To the period of their going with young; which Mr Corse conceives cannot be less than two years; whereas Buffon and Pennant assign only nine months for the gestation of their young. His reasons for this supposition are unanswerable, and shall be given in his own words.

"As far as I know, the exact time an elephant goes with young has not yet been ascertained; but it cannot be less than two years, as one of the elephants brought forth a young one, twenty-one months and three days after she was taken. She was observed to be with young in April or May 1738, and she was only taken in January preceding; so that it is very likely she must have had connection with the male some months before she was secured, otherwise they could not have discovered that she was with young, as a fetus of less than six months cannot well be supposed to make any alteration in the size or shape of so large an animal. The young one, a male, was produced October 16, 1789, and appeared in every respect to have arrived at its full time. The gentleman to whom it belongs examined its mouth a few days after it was brought forth, and found that one of its grinders on each side had partly cut the gum."

When Mr Corse wrote his memoir, the young elephant was active and well, and beginning to eat a little grass. In Africa the Hottentots feed on the elephant; and M. Vaillant declares, that an elephant's foot, when baked in their manner, is a most delicious morsel.(see MEDICINE, n° 352, Encycl.) is one of the most dreadful maladies with which the human race is anywhere afflicted. It is not indeed common, if it be found at all, in the temperate climates of Europe; but it is frequent in the East and West Indies, where it too often baffles the skill of the ablest physicians. In the second volume of the Asiatic Researches we have the following prescription for its cure:

"Take of fine fresh white arsenic one tola, or 10½ grains; of picked black pepper six times as much; let both be well beaten at intervals for four days successively in an iron mortar, and then reduced to an impalpable powder in one of stone with a stone pestle, and thus completely levigated, a little water being mixed with them. Make pills of them as large as tares or small pulse, and keep them dry in a shady place. One of those pills must be swallowed morning and evening with some betel leaf, or in countries where betel is not at hand, with cold water: if the body be cleansed from foulness and obstructions by gentle cathartics and bleeding before the medicine is administered, the remedy will be speedier."

This prescription, we are told, is an old secret of the Hindoo physicians, which they consider as a powerful remedy against all corruptions of the blood, whether occasioned by the elephantiasis or the winered disease, which they call the Persian fire, and which they apply likewise to the cure of cold and moist distempers, or palsy, distortions of the face, relaxation of the nerves, and similar diseases. As the Hindoos are an ingenious and scientific people, it might be worth some European physician's while to make trial of this ancient medicine in the West Indies, where the elephantiasis or kindred diseases prove so frequently fatal.