Memoir's for a natural history of animals containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris / Englished by Alexander Pitfeild ... ; to which is added an account of the measure of a degree of a great circle of the earth, published by the same Academy and Englished by Richard Waller ...

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A DROMEDARY.

THis Animal here described we call a Dromedary, altho' the common practise be to give the name of Camel simply to that which like it has but one Bunch on the Back, and of Dromedary to that which hath two according to Soli∣nus, but contrary to what Aristotle and Pliny, and the generality of Authors have Writt thereof, who do make two sorts of Camels: whereof one, which retains the Name of the Genus, has two Bunches, and is most commonly found in the Eastern parts of Asia, and is therefore called Bactrianus; it is also bigger and more proper to carry heavy Burdens: The other, which is Lesser, and fitter for the Course, and which for this reason is called Dromedary, has but one Bunch, and is most commonly seen in the Western Parts of Asia, viz. in Syria and Arabia. The Sieur Dipi an Arabian, who was present at our Dissection, informed us that the Camels of his country are like to Ours.

It was seven Foot and a half high from the Crown of the Head to the Feet; five and a half from the highest bending of the Back-bone, which is the Bunch; Six Foot and a half from the Stomach to the Tail, of which all the Knots or Vertebrae were fourteen Inches together; and all the Tail com∣prehending the hair, two Foot and a half. The Head was One and Twenty Inches from the hinder-part to the Nose.

The Hair was of a Fawn-Colour inclining a little to an Ash-Colour. It was very soft to the touch, moderately Short, and somewhat shorter than an Oxe's, excepting some places, where it was longer, as on the Head, under the throat and on the fore-part of the Neck. But the longest was on the middle of the Back, where it was near a foot. In this place, although it was very soft and limber, it stood erect, so that it made the greatest part of the Bunch of the Back, which when this hair was pressed down with the hand, hardly appeared more Elevated than a Doggs or Swines, which are Animals that have not the Back Sunk, as Horses, Cows and Staggs generaly have. And indeed there are some Authors which do say, that the Dromedary is engen∣dred of the Camel and Hogg. This is very repugnant to Aristotle, who asserts,

that there is no Animal which hath the Back bunched like the Camel. Some Authors do say, that this Bunch is a Flesh peculiar to this Animal, which rises upon the Back over the Vertebrae, and which wasts away, when after a long abstinence from Food, it grows extraordinary lean. But we found not any appearance of this Flesh in our Subject, although it was not lean; and without this Flesh, the Bunch which was made only by the Hair, was much raised, as is seen in the Figure.

Besides these two sorts of Hair, viz. The long which was upon the Back, Head, and Neck, and the short which covered the rest of the Body; there was likewise a third sort at the Tail, which differed from the others, as well in bigness as Colour, being Gray and very strong, and altogether like the Hair of a Horse's Tail.

The Head was little in Proportion to the Body; the Nose was cleft like a Hare's, and the Teeth like to those of other Animals which do chew the Cud, having no Dentes Canini nor Incisores in the upper Jaw; although the Head wants the Horns which Nature has given and bestowed on the great∣est of those which do chew the Cud. Cardan says that it has recompensed this defect of the Camel, by arming its Feet, which have Hoofs like those of Oxen, according to Pliny: But that is not found, for it has neither Horn nor Hoof on the Feet which can render them dangerous, each Foot being fur∣nisht only with two little Nails at the end; and the Sole which is flat and broad, being very fleshy, and covered only with a soft, thick, and somewhat callous Skin, but very fitt and proper to travel in sandy Places, such as are in Asia and Africa. We thought that this Skin was like a living Sole, which wore not with the swiftness nor continuance of the March, for which this Animal is almost indefatigable: For when Aristotle says, that they are some∣times forc't to defend, as it were, with Boots the Feet of those which are in the Armies; it seems to be not so much to ease them from the inconveniencies which they do undergo in travelling, as to prevent and keep off the Wounds which they might receive in the Warr. And it may be said that this soft∣ness of Foot, which yeilds and fits it self to the ruggedness and unevenness of the Roads, do's render the Feet less capable of being worne, than if they were more solid; although Pliny thinks that it is not possible, that Camels can make long Journies if they are not shod: Its callous Knees are much harder, and do nearer approach the Solidity of the horny Hoof of other Animals.

Aristotle hath remarkt other Particulars in the Foot of the Camel, which we have not found there. He says that it is cleft in two behind, and in four before, and that the interstices are joyned by a Skin like the Feet of a Goose, which was not found in ours, whose Foot was only cleft at top, within four or five Fingers of the end; and this slitt was not joyned by a Skin, but un∣derneath this slitt which is shallow and not very deep, the Foot was solid.

The Callosities of the Knees were six in Number, viz. one at each of the Joynts of the fore-leggs, the first and highest being behind, at the Part which is properly the Cubitus; and the second and lower of the two before, upon the Joynt of the Knee which represents the Wrist: Each hind-legg had likewise one on the first and highest Joynt, which is that before, and which is the true Knee.

Aristotle, who has observed but four of these Callosities, which he calls Knees, and who groundlessly reproves an ancient Author, which is Herodotus, for having made six, adds also a thing more strange, which is to say, that the Camel never bends its Leggs but in these four places: For the Truth is, that it bends them in Eight, like other Quadrupeds, and that there are only the two bendings which do supply the place of the Heel in the hind-leggs, which have no Callosities.

Having opened these Callosities, to observe their Substance (which is be∣tween Flesh, Fat, and Ligament) we found that in some there was a heap of thick Pus; which made us to think as some Authors do report, that Camels are subject to the Gout; and we conceived that it might be, that our Dromedary had been tainted with this distemper, which was ended by a Suppuration.

Besides these six Callosities, there was a seventh much bigger than the rest, at the bottom of the Breast, firmly joyned to the Sternum, which had an Eminence in this Place. It was eight Inches long, six broad, and two thick. It was likewise very much suppurated, and it was judged that this Part was as susceptible of the Gout as the Articles or Joynts, because that its use being to support the whole Body alone whilst it was loading, couched upon the Ground, that hardship might make this Part capable of the weakness and heat which do attract the humors on the Joynts, and which do hinder that they cannot digest and disperse them. The great Sobriety which is remark∣able in the Camel, and the incredible Fatigue which it generally suffers, do de∣monstrate that the greatest hardships may produce the Gout, as well as Idle∣ness and Debauchery.

Before we opened it to observe the inward Parts, we took notice that the Praeputium, which is very large and loose, covered not only the end of the Penis, but that it turned backwards; which may have given occasion to the Opinion of those, who have thought that the Camel pissed backward, like the Lyon, Castor, Hare, &c. whose Penis bends not forward.

The internal Parts are very like to those of the Horse. The Liver had three Lobes, two very large ones, in the middle and underneath which there was one which was lesser and pointed. The Ligament which held the Liver suspended was not fastened to the Cartilago Xiphoides, but to the center of the Diaphragme on which the Membrane of the Peritonaeum which covered it, had a lustre, which made it appear as it were all over gilded. The Gall was not contained in a Cystis, but spread over the Liver, in its Ductus Cholidochus.

The Ventricle which was very large, and divided in four, as in the other Animals which chew the Cud, had not that different Structure, which is ob∣served within the four Ventricles called by Aristotle, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. They were only distinguished by some strait∣enings, which made that the first Ventricle, which is large and vast, produced another very small one, which was followed with a third, some∣what less than the first, but much longer; and this was followed by a fourth like to the second.

At the top of the second Ventricle there were several square holes, which were the Orifices of about twenty Cavities, made like Sacks placed between

the two Membranes which do compose the Substance of this Ventricle. The view of these Sacks made us to think that they might well be the Reservatory's where Pliny says that Camels do a long time keep the Water, which they do drink in great Abundance when they do meet with it to supply the wants which they may have thereof in the dry Desarts where they are used to tra∣vel, and where it is said that those which do guide them are sometimes forc't by extremity of Thirst, to open their Belly, in which they do find Water. There is likewise some reason to say, that the instinct which Aristotle and Pliny have observed to have been by Nature bestowed on this Animal, of always troubling and muddying with its Feet the Water which it would drink, might rather be to render it heavy, and consequently less fitt to pass speedily, and more capable of being a long time retained in its Stomach.

The Intestines were of four sorts. The first at the enterance of the fourth Ventricle were of a middle-size; they were six Foot long. The second were, as it were ruffled and contracted by several folds, as the Colon usually is by means of a Ligament which tacks it together, and makes it as it were divide into several cells. These were also of a middle-size, and were twenty Foot long: The last which were the smallest were Fifty six Foot long; the whole making eleven Toises; and there would have been found above thirteen, if those had been unfolded which were ruffled and contracted.

The Spleen was layd upon the left Kidney. It was Nine Inches long, four broad, and half an Inch thick.

The Penis, of which it is said, that Bow-strings are made, was Nineteen Inches long. It was very pointed at the end, which was bent, and made as it were a Hook of a cartilaginous Substance, without any appearance of the Balanus. The Extremity of the Ureter was a very small Mem∣brane.

The Lungs had but one Lobe on each side. The Heat was of an extraor∣dinary bigness, being Nine Inches in length, and seven in breadth: It was very pointed.

The Structure of the Tongue was remarkable, in that contrary to all Tongues which are all over asperated inward, by the means of abundance of little Eminencies which do tend inwards; one part of this Tongue had them from the in-side to the out-side; for the half towards the end which was very small, was rough as usually from the in-side to the out-side; but the other half near the Root which was very thick, had towards the middle a little Circle, like a Center amongst several Eminences, which covered all this se∣cond half of the Tongue, and whose Points were all turned from this Cen∣ter, making a roughness when we rubed them towards this Center. A∣mongst these Eminencies there were others placed in two Rows, in a direct Line, five in each Row, which were Navils, formed by wrinkles folded round after a very delicate and curious Structure. The Figure explains this more clearly than the Discourse.

The whole Brain comprehending the Cerebellum, was but six Inches and a half long, and four broad. The Optick Nerve was pierced, according to its length, with a number of holes full of Blood. The Processus Mamillares were

very large and hollow, having each two Ductus's or passages, the one of which appeared round, and the other like a Crescent, by a transverse Secti∣on. The Glandula Pinealis was about the bigness of a small Filbert, and as it were composed of three other Glands, which left a dent in the middle.