Catullus
Cód:
491_9781443753944
CHAPTER I. ANONO the various orders of mammalia, from which man has reclaimed and domesticated certain species-species, the possession of which, in a state of subjectiol and dependence, contribute essentially to his welfare-that of the Buminantia, or ruminating animals, affords him the greatest number and those not of the lowest importance. To this order belong the camel, the llama and its allies, the different species of the ox, the sheep, and the goat. Since the remotest periods of history, the ox and the sheep have been regarded in the light of pioperty nor is their intrinsic value less appreciated after a lapse of ages. Who does not know how intimately the wellbeing of a, nation is connected with its agrarian produce, whether animal or vegetable and how closeiy the interests of commerce and of agriculture are inter-blended together It has been said by some one, that he who makes two stalks of corn gram where only one grew before, is a benefactor of his country and by a parity of reasoning, he who improves the breeds of domestic cattle, feeds two on the land which before only supported one and he who devises superior modes of management with regemd to the extension of their utility, also serves the interests of the community. On topics like these, however, we need not insist let us at once to our subject. The Ox, then, is one among the ruminating order of quadrupeds. All the animals of this order have certain characteristics in common, which distinctly mark the differences between them and the animals of all other orders. They have cloven hoofs and they are destitute of incisors, or cutting teeth, in the upper jaw. With regard to the hoof we may observe that, as in the horse, the terminal bone of the toe is incased with horn but the horse has only a single series of phaIangd bones, the ruminants two and hence the expression-cloven. But besides these there me, in some groups, as the deer, an extralateral toe on each side, consisting of three minute phalangal bone
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