A portrait of the elephant, c.1701
On Saturday 27 April 1706, an elephant died beside the road that leads from Broughty Ferry to Dundee. Accompanied by its keeper, it had been on the march from the northeast of Scotland, when it collapsed from exhaustion. A mature elephant being a hard thing to shift with ease, the keeper and sundry others dug a deep ditch at the feet of the animal, so that it could at least recline in a relatively upright position. Sadly, these well-meaning people did not factor in the Scottish weather: it rained heavily overnight, the ditch filled with water, and the unfortunate animal drowned.
The event triggered considerable excitement in the busy town of Dundee. It was not every day, after all, that an ‘animal so considerable for its bigness and strength’, as one local described it, could be seen close-up. The corpse captured the interest not only of the common people, but also of one of the town’s most important citizens: a local surgeon who saw a golden opportunity for making his name in scientific circles. Patrick Blair had long been interested in the insides of mammals, so he was reasonably well-equipped to dissect a dead elephant. And a fine job he made of it.