little more extensively, because there is added to it the influence of
food, both in regard to its abundance and its quality. Thus the
Elephants of one forest are larger than those of another; their tusks
also grow somewhat longer in places where their food may happen to be
more favorable for the production of the substance of ivory. The same
may take place in regard to the horns of Stags and Rein-deer. Besides,
the species of herbivorous animals, in their wild state, seem more
restrained from migrating and dispersing than the carnivorous species,
being influenced both by climate, and by the kind of nourishment which
they need.
We never see, in a wild state, intermediate productions between the Hare
and the Rabbit, between the Stag and the Doe, or between the Martin and
the Weasel. Human artifice contrives to produce all these intermixtures
of which the various species are susceptible, but which they would never
produce if left to themselves.
The degrees of these variations are proportional to the intensity of the
causes that produce them, namely, the slavery or subjection under which
these animals are to man. They do not proceed far in half-domesticated
species.
In the domesticated herbivorous quadrupeds, which man transports into
all kinds of climates, and subjects to various kinds of management, both
in regard to labour and nourishment, he procures certainly more
considerable variations, but still they are all merely superficial:
greater or less size; longer or shorter horns, or even the want of these
entirely; a hump of fat, larger or smaller, on the shoulder; these form
the chief differences among particular races of the _Bos Taurus_, or
domestic Black Cattle; and these differences continue long in such
breeds as have been transported to great distances from the countries in
which they were originally produced, when proper care is taken to
prevent crossing.
Nature appears also to have guarded against the alterations of species
which might proceed from mixture of breeds, by influencing the various
species of animals with mutual aversion. Hence all the cunning and all
the force that man is able to exert is necessary to accomplish such
unions, even between species that have the nearest resemblance. And when
the mule-breeds that are thus produced by these forced conjunctions
happen to be fruitful, which is seldom the case, this fecundity never
continues beyond a few generations, and would not probably proceed so
far, without a continuance of the same causes which excited it at
first.
This being the case, it is quite clear that the fact of two animals
producing an intermediate race is no proof whatever of their specific
identity; for it is well known, and has been already alluded to, that
several animals. Birds as well as Mammalia, produce offspring, and are
nevertheless distinct, both as it regards anatomical structure and
external form.
Neither does it constitute the species identical if either or both the
hybrids be even capable of fruitful intercourse with the original or
parent species. Hamilton Smith goes so far as to say, that "if it even
were proved that a prolific intermediate race exist, produced by the
intermixture of both, it would not fully determine that both form only
one original species: what forms a species, and what a variety, is as
yet far from being well understood."
It is, however, pretty generally agreed, that animals are of the same
species, that is to say, have been derived from one common stock, when
their offspring have the power, _inter se_, of indefinitely continuing
their kind; and conversely, that animals of distinct species, or
descendants of stocks originally different, cannot produce a mixed race
which shall possess the capability of perpetuating itself.
To conclude, it must be obvious, that permanent anatomical differences
are the only true criteria of distinctions of species.
THE BANTENG OF JAVA.
_Bos Bantinger, or Bantiger. Bos Sondaicus?_
[Illustration]
The above figure was drawn from a stuffed specimen in the British
Museum. In colour, shape, and texture of horns, and apparent want of
dewlap, it bears some resemblance to the Gaur; but in the skeleton of
the Gaur the sacrum consists of _five_ vertebrae, and the tail of
_nineteen_; while in the skeleton of the Banteng, the sacrum consists of
but _four_ vertebrae, and the tail of _eighteen_.
BRITISH DOMESTIC CATTLE.
It does not come within the scope of the present work to give the
varieties of Domestic Cattle; for these the reader is referred to the
many excellent works already published on the subject. It will be
sufficient in this place to notice a few interesting facts--statistical,
anecdotal, &c.--in relation to their domestic history.
INFLUENCE OF COLOUR IN BREEDING.
The following remarkable fact, respecting the colour of the offspring
being influenced by that of the external objects surrounding the Cow at
the time of copulation, is stated by John Boswell, of Balmuto and
Kingcaussie, in an essay upon the breeding of Live Stock, communicated
to the Highland Society in 1825. He says:--"One of the most intelligent
breeders I have ever met with in Scotland, Mr. Mustard, an extensive
farmer on Sir James Carnegie's Estate in Angus, told me a singular fact,
with regard to what I have now stated. One of his cows happened to come
into season while pasturing on a field which was bounded by that of one
of his neighbours, out of which field an Ox jumped, and went with the
Cow, until she was brought home to the Bull. The Ox was white with black
spots, and horned. Mr. Mustard had not a horned beast in his possession,
nor one with any white on it. Nevertheless, the produce of the following
spring was a black and white calf, _with horns_." Another fact, which
shows the great care required in keeping pure this breed--(the Angus
doddies)--is related of the Keillor Stock, where, two different seasons,
a dairy cow of the Ayrshire breed, red and white, was allowed to pasture
with the black doddies. In the first experiment, from pure black Bulls
and Cows, there appeared _three_ red and white calves; and on the second
trial, _two_ of the calves were of mixed colours. Since that time care
has been taken to have almost every animal on the farm, down to the Pigs
and Poultry of a black colour.
INFLUENCE OF THE MALE IN BREEDING.
An ordinary Cow, and a Bull without horns, will produce a calf
resembling the male in appearance and character, without horns and
without that particular prominence of the transverse apophysis of the
frontal bone. The milk of the female from this cross, also, proves the
influence of the male: it has the peculiar qualities of the hornless
breed--less abundant, containing less whey, but more cream and curd.
GENERATIVE PRECOCITY.
A Mr. Gordon relates the following singular instance of fecundity and
early maturity in the Aberdeen Cattle. "On the 25th of Sept., 1805, a
calf of five months old, of the small Aberdeenshire breed, happening to
be put into an enclosure among other Cattle, admitted a male that was
only one year old. In the month of June following, at the age of
fourteen months, she brought forth a very fine calf, and in the Summer
of 1807, another equally good. The first calf, after working in the
Winter, Spring, and Summer of 1809, was killed in January, 1810, and
weighed 6 _cwt._ 3 _qrs._ 16 _lb._ The second was killed December 16,
1810, aged three years six months, and weighed exactly 7 _cwt._; and on
Dec. 30, 1807, the mother, after having brought up these calves, was
killed at the age of two years and eight months, and weighed 4 _cwt._ 1
_qr._ the four quarters, sinking the offal."
MILK.
Cows are usually milked three times a day over the greatest part of
Scotland, from the time of calving till the milk begins to dry up during
the Winter season, when the Cows are for the most part in calf; nor is
it found that they suffer by that practice in any degree: and it is the
general opinion of all who adopt it, that nearly one third more milk is
thus obtained than if they were milked only twice.
A Cow, mentioned by Dr. Anderson in his 'Recreations,' (vol. v, p. 309,)
was milked three times a day for ten years running, during the space of
nine months, at least, every year; and was never seen, during all that
period, but in very excellent order, although she had no other feeding
than was given to the rest of the Cows, some of which were very low
every winter, when they gave no milk at all.
A farmer of the name of Watkinson had a Cow that, for seventeen years,
gave him from ten to twenty quarts of milk every day; was in moderate
condition when taken up, six months in fattening, and being then twenty
years old, was sold for more than L18. Mr. John Holt, of Walton, in
Lancashire, had a healthy Cow-calf presented to him, whose dam was in
her thirty-second year, and could not be said to have been properly out
of milk for the preceding fifteen years.
Yorkshire Cows, which are those chiefly used in the London Dairies, give
a very great quantity of milk. It is by no means uncommon for them, in
the beginning of the Summer, to yield thirty quarts a day; there are
rare instances of giving thirty-six quarts; but the average measure may
be estimated at twenty-two or twenty-four quarts.
[Illustration: Alderney Cow, after Howitt.]
BUTTER.
The Alderney Cow, considering its voracious appetite, yields very little
milk; that milk, however, is of an extraordinary excellent quality, and
gives more butter than can be obtained from the milk of any other cow.
John Lawrence states that an Alderney Cow that had strayed on the
premises of a friend of his, and remained there three weeks, made 19
lbs. of butter each week; and the fact was held so extraordinary, as to
be thought worthy of a memorandum in the parish books. The milk of the
Alderney Cow fits her for the situation in which she is usually placed,
and where the excellence of the article is regarded, and not the
expense.
Lord Hampden, of Glynde, had a cow which in the height of the season
yielded ten pounds of butter and twelve pounds of cheese every week, and
yet her quantity of milk rarely exceeded five gallons per day. The next
year the same cow gave nine pounds and a half of butter per week for
several weeks, and then for the rest of the summer between eight and
nine pounds per week; and until the hard frost set in, seven pounds; and
four pounds per week during the frost. Yet as a proof of the quality of
the milk, she at no time gave more than five gallons in the day. To this
may be added that, "four or five years before, the same person had a
fine black Sussex Cow from Lord Gage, which also gave, in the height of
the season, five gallons per day, but no more than five pounds of butter
were ever made from it." This is accounted for in a singular way; for
there is a common opinion in the east of Sussex, that "the milk of a
black cow never gives so much butter as that of a red one."
MR. YOUATT'S PHILOSOPHY OF RABIES, OR MADNESS.
In treating of Rabies, Youatt says:--"When a rabid or mad dog is
wandering about, labouring under an irrepressible disposition to bite,
he seeks out first of all his own species; but if his road lies by a
herd of cattle, he will attack the nearest to him; and if he meet with
much resistance, he will set upon the whole herd, and bite as many as he
can.... If the disease is to appear at all, it will be about the
expiration of the _fifth week_, although there will be no absolute
security in less than the double number of months," After making these
remarks, our author reasons himself into the sapient conclusion, that
the poison in all rabid animals resides in the saliva, and does not
affect any other secretion. "The knowledge that the virus is confined to
the saliva," he opines, "will settle a matter that has been the cause of
considerable uneasiness. A cow has been observed to be ailing for a day
or two, but she has been milked as usual; her milk has been mingled with
the rest, and has been used for domestic purposes, as heretofore. She is
at length discovered to be rabid. Is the family safe? Can the milk of a
rabid cow be drunk with impunity? Yes, perfectly so, for the poison is
confined to the saliva. The livers of hundreds of rabid dogs have been
eaten in days of ignorance, dressed in all manners of ways, but usually
fried as nicely as possible, as a preventive against madness. Some
miscreants have sent the flesh of rabid cattle to the market, and _it
has been eaten without harm_; and so, although not very pleasant to
think about, _the milk of the rabid cow may be drunk without the
slightest danger_."
Is it, indeed, possible for any of the secretions of an animal to be in
a healthy state, and fit for human food, after it has had the virus of a
rabid dog circulating in its system for at least _five weeks_?
Furthermore, is it consistent in Mr. Youatt to call those _miscreants_
who send the flesh of rabid cattle to market, when he acknowledges, in
the same breathy that it can be eaten without harm?
According to Mr. Youatt's philosophy, a cow in a rabid state is actually
as good as a cow in a healthy state; for its milk may be drunk with
impunity--the family is _perfectly safe_ who uses it for domestic
purposes; and, moreover, _the flesh of rabid cattle may be eaten without
harm_. What more can be predicated of cattle in the purest state of
health?
STATISTICS.
The number of cattle in Great Britain was estimated by Youatt (1838) at
upwards of eight millions. 160,000 head of cattle are annually sold in
Smithfield alone, without including calves, or the _dead market_, i.e.,
the carcases, sent up from various parts of the country. 1,200,000
sheep, 36,000 pigs, and 18,000 calves, are also sent to Smithfield in
the course of a year.
A tenth part of the sheep and lambs die annually of disease (more than
4,000,000 perished by the rot alone in the winter of 1829-30), and at
least a fifteenth part of the neat cattle are destroyed by inflammatory
fever and milk fever, red water, hoose, and diarrhoea.
If a tithe of the sheep and lambs, and a fifteenth of the neat cattle
_die of disease_, what proportion are _slaughtered and sent to market in
the earlier stages of disease_; and, in fact, in all the stages
antecedent to those which are the immediate cause of death?
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Delineations of the Ox Tribe, by George Vasey