ABSTRACT
On Friday, 17 June 1681, an elephant was accidentally burnt in Dublin, with a sizeable crowd gathering to witness the extraordinary event. 'To prevent [the elephant] being taken away by the multitude, the Manager, Mr. Wilkins, produced a File of Musqueteers to guard him, till he should build a shed where he might securely disjoint him, in order to the making of a skeleton' (Mullen, 1682: 4). Our detailed knowledge of this event comes from an eyewitness account, from which an extract follows, which Allan Mullen included in the anatomical description of the elephant that he sent William Petty.
