of interest to warrant it, or I should not have ventured to
introduce the subject in this work. There are facts,--besides the
admixture of human workmanship with the animal remains in undisturbed
deposits--direct evidence, not altogether shadowy, of the co-existence
of the extinct animals with living men.

And first, I would mention some circumstances bearing analogy to the
exhumation of the fresh Pachyderms of Siberia. Some years ago, a portion
of the leg of an Irish Elk, so-called, (_Megaceros hibernicus_,) with a
part of the tendons, skin, and hair upon it, was dug up with other
remains from a deposit on the estate of H. Grogan Morgan, Esq., of
Johnstown Castle, Wexford, and is now in that gentleman's possession.
This leg was exhibited, and formed the subject of a lecture at the time
by Mr Peile, veterinary surgeon, Dublin.

It has been ascertained that the marrow in some of the bones blazes like
a candle; that the cartilage and gelatine, so far from having been
destroyed, were not apparently altered by time.[24] Archdeacon Maunsell
actually made soup of the bones, and presented a portion thereof to the
Royal Dublin Society (whether they enjoyed it I have not heard; it must
have been "a little high," I fear). They are frequently used by the
peasantry for fuel. On the occasion of the rejoicings for the victory at
Waterloo, a bonfire was made of these bones, and it was observed that
they gave out as good a blaze as those of horses, often used for similar
purposes.[25]

Pepper, in his "History of Ireland," states that the ancient Irish used
to hunt a very large black deer, the milk of which they used as we do
that of the cow, and the flesh of which served them for food, and the
skin for clothing. This is a very remarkable record; and is confirmed by
some bronze tablets found by Sir William Betham, the inscriptions on
which attested that the ancient Irish fed upon the milk and flesh of a
great black deer.

According to the "Annals of the Four Masters," Niel Sedamin, a king of
Ireland before the Christian era, was so called because "the cows and
the female deer were alike milked in his reign." The art of taming the
wild deer and converting them into domestic cattle is said to have been
introduced by Flidisia, this monarch's mother. Deer are said to have
been used to carry stones and wood for Codocus when his monastery was
built, as also to carry timber to build the castle of a king of
Connaught. These may have been re