{ "id": "244fe5facffe54e2e4b4ba5bc14549b693271d2b", "text": "VI. A Letter from James Parsons, M. D. F. R. S. to the Right Honourable the Earl of Morton, President of the Royal Society; on the double Horns of the Rhinoceros.\n\nMy Lord;\n\nWHEN I had the honor of laying my natural history of the Rhinoceros before this learned Society in 1743, which is printed in number 470, page 523, of the Transactions, I had not an opportunity of shewing a double horn to the members; I have, therefore, taken this first occasion to entertain the present members with a sight of a noble specimen of the horns of an African Rhinoceros, brought from the Cape of Good Hope, by my curious and worthy friend William Maguire esquire, among many other curiosities; presuming that few of the Society have ever seen a pair of the like kind. But what renders this subject the more particular, and worthy of observation, is that, by means of knowing there is a species of this animal, having always a double horn upon the nose, in Africa, Martial's reading is supported against the criticism of Bochart, who changed the true text of that poet, in an epigram upon the strength of this animal; for when Domitian ordered an exhibition of wild beasts, as it was the custom of\nof several emperors. The poet says: The Rhinoceros toss'd up a heavy bear with his double horn:\n\nNamque gravem gemino cornu sic extulit ursum.\n\nand as Bochart knew nothing of a double horn, he changed this line both in reading and sense, thus:\n\nNamque gravi geminum cornu sic extulit eurum.\n\nas if two wild bulls were tossed up into the air, by the strong horn of the Rhinoceros.\n\nMr. Maittaire adopted the notion of a single horn, but was of opinion that the geminum eurum of Bochart ought to have been plural, geminos euros, as being more elegant; and he was followed by Doctors Mead and Douglas, with this difference, that these changed the euros for ursos, as imagining they were rather bears than bulls, that were thrown up by this noble animal.\n\nOur then worthy president Martin Folkes Esquire, had seen my account of this subject, at the end of which, I endeavoured, however presumptuously, to defend Martial's reading against Bochart and the other eminent persons mentioned; and desired I would let it be read and printed, which I very readily agreed to, as his request did me much honour.\n\nBefore my paper was printed, Mr. Maittaire and Doctor Douglas died; and the learned Doctor Mead was the surviving critic, upon this line, of the three. Upon this occasion, therefore, I have a double pleasure; first, in amusing the present gentlemen with a most curious specimen in natural history; and, secondly, in remembering, in this place, the nice candor and generosity of Doctor Mead upon that subject. For, about four months after the paper was printed, he received a present of several cu-\nrious shells, seeds, &c. and with them the bones of\nthe face of a young Rhinoceros, with two horns in\nsitu, all entire, by a captain, of an African trader,\nwho brought them from Angola.\n\nAs soon as he saw the horns, he sent to invite\nme to breakfast, and there, in company, ingenuously\ngave up his past opinion, and declared for Martial;\nand, indeed, I must add to the praise of that great\nman, that, as I was happy in being frequently at\nhis house, I was witness to many such instances of\nthe most disinterested candor and generosity, where\nany part of science was the topic, among his select\nfriends.\n\nThis anecdote I thought proper to mention upon\nthe present occasion; nor can too much be said to\nhis honour, among all lovers of philosophical learn-\ning. I am,\n\nYour Lordship's\nmost obedient Servant,\nJames Parsons.\n\nP. S. The figure of the double horn of the Rhinoceros here\ndescribed is seen in Tab. II. The dimensions are as follows; viz.\nThe length of the anterior horn, measuring with a string along\nthe convex fore part, is 20 inches; perpendicular height 18;\ncircumference 21 ½ at the base; the posterior horn is in per-\npendicular height 19 ¼; circumference round the base 18;\nlength of both bases together upon the nasal bones 14; and the\nweight of both together is 14 pounds 10 ounces.\n\nThe Rhinoceros of the year 1739, described in the Transac-\ntions, was three years old; and the horn not three inches high;\nand hence by comparing that with this, one may imagine this to\nbe many years old, perhaps above twenty; and that this animal\nlives to a great age.\n\nIt is also plain that the horns are perpetual as are those of\noxen.\n\nVII. Extract\nThe Double Horn of an African Rhinoceros, brought from the Cape of Good Hope, by William M. Guire Esq.", "source": "olmocr", "added": "2026-01-12", "created": "2026-01-12", "metadata": { "Source-File": "/home/jic823/projects/def-jic823/royalsociety/pdfs/105478.pdf", "olmocr-version": "0.3.4", "pdf-total-pages": 5, "total-input-tokens": 7702, "total-output-tokens": 1261, "total-fallback-pages": 0 }, "attributes": { "pdf_page_numbers": [ [ 0, 0, 1 ], [ 0, 1184, 2 ], [ 1184, 2781, 3 ], [ 2781, 4435, 4 ], [ 4435, 4537, 5 ] ], "primary_language": [ "en", "en", "en", "en", "en" ], "is_rotation_valid": [ true, true, true, true, true ], "rotation_correction": [ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ], "is_table": [ false, false, false, false, false ], "is_diagram": [ false, false, false, false, true ] }, "jstor_metadata": { "identifier": "jstor-105478", "title": "A Letter from James Parsons, M. D. F. R. S. to the Right Honourable the Earl of Morton, President of the Royal Society; On the the Double Horns of the Rhinoceros", "authors": "James Parsons", "year": 1766, "volume": "56", "journal": "Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775)", "page_count": 5, "jstor_url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/105478" } }