account of the fact that an elephant is about eighteen years in
coming to anything like maturity, according to the Indian
Government standard for working animals, it is far more economical
and expeditious to catch full-grown elephants in their native
jungles, and train them, than it is to breed and rear them. About
ninety per cent of all the elephants now living in captivity were
caught in a wild state and tamed, and of the remainder at least
eighty per cent were born in captivity of females that were gravid
when captured. It will be seen, therefore, that the elephant has
derived no advantage whatever from ancestral association with man,
and has gained nothing from the careful selection and breeding
which, all combined, have made the collie dog, the pointer and the
setter the wonderfully intelligent animals they are. For many
generations the horse has been bred for strength, for speed, or
for beauty of form, but the breeding of the dog has been based
_chiefly_ on his intelligence as a means to an end. _With
all his advantages, it is to be doubted whether the comprehensive
faculties of the dog, even in the most exceptional individuals of
a whole race, are equal to those of the adult wild elephant fresh
from the jungle._

The extreme difficulty of teaching a dog _of mature age_ even
the simplest thing is so well known that it has passed into a
proverb: "It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." In other
words, the conditions _must_ be favorable. But what is the
case with the elephant? The question shall be answered by G. P.
Sanderson. In his "Wild Beasts of India," he says: "_Nor are
there any elephants which can not be easily subjugated, whatever
their size or age. The largest and oldest elephants are frequently
the most easily tamed, as they are less apprehensive than the