fection unconnected with an unusually vivid perception in the bodily organ, just as, in certain individuals of the human race, the influence of a musical ear gives rise to ideas and associations in no way dependent upon a quicker perception in the sense of hearing. The power of man in subduing the larger animals, such as the horse, the camel, the buffalo, and the bull, was, I doubt not, originally brought to bear upon the brute creation rather by gentleness than force. A wild horse in the adult state, full of strength and vigour, and unconstrained by the spirit-breaking habits of an accustomed slavery, could scarcely be induced, either by force or guile, to submit itself as a beast of burden to the human race. Neither could the buffalo, an animal at all times of doubtful docility," with a sombre, malignant eye, active, daring, swift, and persevering, when excited," though dull, slow, and wallowing, in his ordinary condition, be easily subdued. We know, however, that the young of all animals, and more especially of herbivorous ones, have a strong affection for their parents; and that, when the hunter has slain the mother, and carried off her carcass, the bereaved offspring will follow the dead body, and thus submit themselves voluntarily to the power of man. The heroic traditions of the Greeks, and of other credulous lovers of a remote ancestry, may describe with truth or verisimilitude, the efforts of demi-gods and men in the destruction of wild beasts; yet, as far as actual subjugation is concerned, it would have required both Castor and Pollux to bridle a wild horse. But the young of one or other of the above named animals having been brought up in the family, and accustomed to the society of man-cherished perhaps in the first place as the playmate of infancy, and afterwards retained in its more burly and uncouth condition from pity or affection, would in the progress of time, through choice or accident, become a beast of burden, and one of the first parents of an enslaved race, destined after the lapse of centuries, to produce innumerable tribes, available for the various purposes of pastoral and agricultural life, for the peaceful pursuits of the merchant, or the more energetic enterprises of the warrior or huntsman. Thus, at some unknown period of remote antiquity, from a pet calf or a trembling foal, have probably been derived those now domesticated, animals, which, in their totality, through the superintending foresight of providence, may be said to have altered the constitution of soeiety, and the character of the human race. "The immense advantages derived from the domesticated ox in the beginning of human civilization, may be gathered from the conspicuous part its name and attributes perform in the early history of mankind. We find the bull among the signs of the Zodiac; it typifies the sun in more than one system of mythology, the supreme power as Jupiter among the Greeks and Romans, the strength of war with Mars; the sinews of commerce with Mercury, but still typifying the sun; the Dolichenus among the Sequanian Gauls. The bull was personally worshipped by the names of Apis and Mnevis among the Egyptians, and is still venerated in India. The cow is repeatedly a mystical type of the earth in the systems of Ancient Greece, or a form of Bhavani with the Hindoos, and still more marked in the lunar arkite worship of the Celtic nations, The Hindu Vedas consider it as the primordial animal, the first created by the three kinds of gods, who were directed by the supreme Lord to furnish the earth with animated beings. The ox first enabling man to till the ground, was a direct cause of private territorial property and of its consequences, wealth *, commerce, leisure, and learning; he was no less the means of abstracting mankind from the necessity of shedding blood, and thus he became the emblem of justice, the vehicle of Siva. This merited consideration we see dexterously used by ancient legislators to soften the brutality of human manners, either by forbidding the flesh as food in those countries, where his acknowledged utility was counteracted by obstacles in the increase, or by commanding the frequent use of sacrifices by a proper slaughter, and where fire and salt should be employed to check a horrid species of massacre, and the practice of devouring the flesh in a raw state. Such are the meaning of the prohibitions "Hence the ox stamped upon the coins of Attica; hence the cow is a representation of money in ancient Irish translations." The Latin name of money, pecunia, is also supposed to be derived from the term pecus, applied to sheep or cattle. VOL. II. NO. VIII. 6 in Deuteronomy; and the necessity of these prohibitions is but too manifest in the ancient allusions of Orpheus, which inculcate that principle, when we find Julius Firmicus, many ages after, reproaching the civilized Greeks with perpetrating these horrid repasts in their Dionisiacs. Vivum laniant dentibus taurum ;' and again, Alter, cruentus ore, dum viva pecoris membra discerpit ;' which evidently mean the brutal repast still practised in Abyssinia, for which the veracity of Bruce was so vehemently impugned by ignorant philanthropists and wits.” "The words Thur, Tur, Teir, Deer, Stur, Steer, in the northern dialects of Europe, in their early and in their latest acceptations, are direct names of well known ruminants; but in proportion as we pursue the root towards its origin in Central Asia, we find that the parent language of the Gothic and Sclavonian, as well as of the Hellenic and others, unite in fixing it upon a large bovine animal, perfectly applicable to that known in Casar's Commentaries by the name of Urus, implying primeval, ancient, silvan, fierce, mysterious; still retained in the Teutonic ur, and its numerous adjuncts. We there find the root of the denomination of several regions in which the parent race of the Tauri or the Urus, has existed, or still resides. Thus Turan of Eastern Persia, Turan south of the Caucacus, the cradle of the Turkish nation; the present Turcomania; the Thurgau ; the Canton of Uri; the Thuringian forest; and, if we take the root from the southern and eastern Tavgos, Taurus, we find the Tauric Chersonesus; the Touri, a Sarmatian tribe, the Taurini inhabiting Italy, near the present Turin, &c. In most of these countries, the gignatic Urus has left his remains, or the more recent Urus has been known to herd. In the same manner, the word Ox, Ochs, Oguvos, derived from the same original language, applied it seems both to the domestic animal, and to rushing waters *: thus the river Oxus, or Gihon or Ghayon, • Rivers were sometimes of old named Taurocrani or Bull-heads, for the four following reasons: First, because when they empty themselves into the sea, they roar or bellow like bulls, with the noise of their contending waters; secondly, because they furrow the earth like a draught of oxen with a plough; thirdly, because the sweetest and deepest pastures to which cattle resort are near to rivers; fourthly, because, by their crooked and sinuous courses they imitate the fashion of horns, and are also impetuous, violent, and irresistible. the Cow river, perhaps figuratively on account of its source rising from an ice-cavern like the Ganges, representing a cow's mouth. The word implies a title of power, and is a proper name. Ochus occurs in Persian history, Okous or bull, is a common name among the Curds (Coords) and other Caucasian (Gau-cas) tribes, Bous, Bos, and the Arabic Bakr, Koe, Kuhe, Cow, Gau and Ghai, are evidently from a common root, descriptive of the voice of cattle *.” Griffith's Animal Kingdom, vol. iv. p. 411. In addition to the above, I subjoin a note from an author already quoted. "The Hebrews call him Tor, or Taur, which the Chaldees call Abir, for a strong oxe; so the Arabians, Taur; the Grecians, Tauros; the Latins, Taurus; the Italians, Tauro; the French, Taureau; the Germans, ein Steer, ein Vuucherstier, das Vucher, ein Mum. melstier, ein Hagen, and ein Bollen; the Illyrians, Vul and Tunecz; by all which several appellations, it is evident that the name of Taurus in Latin is not derived from Tanouros, the stretching out the tayl; nor from Gauros, signifying proud; but from the Hebrew, Tor, which signifieth great; upon which occasion the Grecians called all large, great and violent things by the name of Tauroi, and that word Taurus among the Latins hath given denomination to men, stars, mountains, rivers, trees, ships, and many other things, which caused Joachimus Camerarius to make thereof this enigmatical riddle: Mæchus eram regis; sed lignea membra sequebar. That is, in divers senses, Taurus was a king's pander, the root of a tree, a mountain in Cilicia, a bull, a mountain in name, a star or sign in heaven, and a river upon earth."-Topsel's History of Four-footed Beasts, p. 48. SOME REMARKS ON THE VALUE OF LIVE-STOCK, WITH RELATION TO THE WEIGHT OF OFFAL. By ADAM FERGUSSON, Esq. of Woodhill. In the improvement of live-stock in this country, the views of breeders have been long directed to the selection of animals of good shape, and a "kindly handling ;" and attention to the establishing of new breeds, or to the improving of old ones, has always been appreciated by the public, as reflecting credit upon the enterprise of the individuals, and as conducing to the prosperity of the country. A judicious improvement in live-stock is not limited in its effects to that object alone. It never fails, at the same time, to improve the agriculture of the country around; the land being necessarily drained, enclosed and cultivated, in a manner adequate to raise the superior kind and quality of the produce now required. Such being the beneficial consequences of an improvement of live-stock, no suggestion ought to be disregarded which may lead to that important end. It may be laid down as a maxim, that those breeds or varieties are the best which will pay most, all things considered, in the shortest period, or which will produce the greatest weight of marketable produce from any given extent of land, and within any given period. And, in like manner, it may be stated, that the animal of any given breed, which, in relation to its live-weight, will bring to the butcher's stall the greatest quantity of good meat and tallow, is the animal of greatest value. Now, there is some reason to suspect, that a question having relation to this latter point has been of late too much overlooked, arising from carelessness on the part of the farmer, with some professional mystery perhaps on the part of the butcher. The question here referred to is that of the live and dead weight; and the ratio which the one bears to the other in properly fed animals. It is true, that various Tables, founded on the determination of this question, have been constructed with the view of assisting the farmer in the disposal of his stock, and such Tables are no doubt to a certain extent convenient and useful. A difficulty, however, has generally presented itself in bringing their accuracy to such a direct and palpable test, as to be sufficient to silence a keen and depreciating purchaser, and compel him to admit, that the seller does not over-rate the weight of the animal. It would seem that attention, at once more extended and minute, must yet be bestowed before the relative live and dead weight of stock can be ascertained, in a manner equally satisfactory to the buyer and the seller. The particular error into which, it is conceived, many have fallen, lies in estimating the dead at only one-half of the liveweight. It is sufficiently apparent, that should the former, in any material degree, exceed this proportion, a very serious loss may be incurred by the seller, who founds his calculation upon that datum; and from some authentic returns to be just sub |