The Elephant's Tusks

Strictly speaking, ivory is equivalent to dentine, the hard substance of whlch most teeth chiefly consist; but, as commonly accepted, ivory means the dentine of those teeth that are large enough to be of use for industrial purj, such as the tusks of the elephant, the narwhal, the hlppopotamus, tTTe walrus and the sperra whale. The tusks of the elephant are a pair of upper incisor teeth, whlch of ten grow to an enormous slze. The extinct mammoths possessed the largest tusks. The African species have the largest teeth of nny of the recent elephants. Among the many curiosities to be seen at the Lonon exhlbition of 1851, was a pair of frican tusks that measured eight feet nd six inclies in lengtn ana iwemr wo inches in circumference, and toether weighfcd 325 pounds. The averge weight, however, of the African usks is from twenty to fifty pounds. Captive elepliants usually have thelr usks shortened, and the ends bound with metal to keep them from splitting, ut the tusks continue to grow by reaon of the conversión of vascular pulp into ivory, and the shortening operation has to be ivpeated at intervals. The value of ivory depends upon the size of the tusks; those weighing less than six nounds are not worth more han half the price per pound of really fine tusks. The tusks of the narwhal and the walrus, the teeth of gperm vhales, the ear-bones of whales, and the molar teeth of the elephant are all made use of as sources of Ivory. though they are not so valuable as the larger tusks. The best and finest quality comes from equatorial África. It is much closer in grain than Indian ivory, and has less tendency to become yellow when exposed. It is semi-transparent and of a warm color when first cut, and in thls state it is called "green" ivory; as the water dries out of it, It becomes much lighter in color and more opaque.