Essay on the Theory of the Earth

by baron Georges Cuvier

“William W. Maunsell.”

Of this skeleton, the most perfect hitherto found, the following interesting description is given by Mr Hart, in his memoir.

“This magnificent skeleton is perfect in every single bone of the framework which contributes to form a part of its general outline: the spine, the chest, the pelvis, and the extremities, are all complete in this respect; and, when surmounted by the head, and beautifully expanded antlers, which extend out to a distance of nearly six feet on either side, forms a splendid display of the reliques of the former grandeur of the animal kingdom, and carries back the imagination to a period when whole herds of this noble animal wandered at large over the face of the country.

To proceed with a description of the several parts of this specimen in detail, I shall commence with the horns, which give the animal its chief characteristic feature.

The horns.—That the description of these may be the more intelligible, I will first explain the terms which I mean to apply to their several parts. Each horn consists of the socket or root, the burr or coronary circle, the beam or shaft, the palm and the antlers.

The socket or root is the part of the horn which grows out of the frontal bone, and which is never shed; it is smooth, of a brown colour, an inch and half in length, and eleven inches three quarters in circumference; in the animal’s lifetime it was covered by the skin. The coronary or bead-like circle, or burr, is a ring of small, hard, whitish prominences, resembling a string of pearls, which encircles the junction of the socket with the part of the horn which falls annually from the heads of all deer.

The beam or shaft extends outwards, with a curvature whose concavity looks downwards, and backwards. This part is nearly cylindrical at its root, and its length equals about one-fourth of that of the whole horn; its outer end is spread out and flattened on its upper surface, and is continuous with the palm, which expands outwards in a fan-like form, the outer extremity of which measures two feet ten inches across, being its broadest part. Where the beam joins the palm the horn undergoes a kind of twist, the effect of which on the palm is, to place its edges above and below, and its surfaces anterior and posterior; the anterior surface is convex, and looks outwards; the posterior is concave, and its surface looks towards that of the opposite palm. Such is the position of the horns, when the head is so placed that the zygomatic arch is parallel to the horizon, as it would be during progression, or whilst the animal stands in an easy posture.

The antlers are the long pointed processes which project from the horns, two of which grow from the beam anteriorly; the first comes off immediately from the root, and is directed downwards, overhanging the orbit; this is called the brow antler, which, in this specimen, is divided into two points at its extremity[419].

The other antler, which comes off from the beam, we may call the sur-antler: in this specimen it consists of a broad plate or palm, concave on its upper surface, horizontal in its direction, and forked into two points anteriorly,—an appearance which I have not observed in any other specimen of upwards of forty which I have seen, nor do I find it marked in any of the plates of those bones extant.

There is one antler given off posteriorly from the junction of the beam with the palm: it runs directly backwards parallel to the corresponding one of the opposite horn. The inferior edge of the palm beyond this runs outwards and backwards: it is obtuse and thick, and its length is two feet six inches. From the anterior and external borders of each palm there come off six long pointed antlers. None of these are designated by any particular name. The number of the antlers of both sides taken together is twenty-two.