20 APRIL 1872, Page 3

We wonder when the European delusion about the gentleness of

the male elephant will be dissipated. He is one of the most malignant of beasts, and according to the records of the great In- dian stables almost invariably kills his keeper, watching his oppor- tunity sometimes for months. An elephant was being shown last Saturday at Newcastle in a stable-yard, and was fed by some lads with bread and nuts. One of them, it is imagined, gave him a atone—there is no evidence of this—but at all events the elephant lost his temper, seized him with his trunk, and crushed him against the wall, kneading him against it with the thick part of his trunk. In a gorilla this would have been called blind fury ; but in an elephant it was only, said the coroner, excitement, probably pro- duced by teasing.