398 Origmes Zoologicce, 



*' see the wind." Hogs are of exceedingly rapid growth, and 

 as, when killed, their flesh takes salt more readily than the 

 flesh of other animals, they form a valuable part of the husband- 

 man's stock, and one of the principal objects of sale in a country 

 fair : so, when a man has made a successful bargain, he is said 

 to have brought his hogs to a fair market. Stubborn and in- 

 flexible obstinacy is likened to the casting of pearls before 

 swine ; and of indocible stupidity it is said, " Ne sus Miner- 

 vam," You cannot make a silken purse of a sow's ear. 



In some parts of the East, they were, nevertheless, objects 

 of pastoral care and attention, if not of commerce : for the 

 herd of swine, into which the evil spirits were suffered to 

 enter, were under the care of feeders. (Matthew, viii. 28 — 34. 

 [So in the parable of the Prodigal Son. (Luke, xv. 15.)] 

 They are very gregarious, and in the wild and vast forests of 

 Germany collect together in great herds; and persons who 

 are closely packed in society are said to pig together. Hogs, 

 like many animals in a state of domestication, bring several 

 litters in a year, and at all seasons, from the abundance of 

 food and accommodation which can be afforded them, as may 

 also be observed of dogs, cats, rabbits, poultry, doves, cows, 

 and sheep. When caught, they are seized by the ear or lug, 

 and make a most noisy outcry : whence of a person who has 

 fastened his suspicions on a wrong object, it is said, that he 

 has taken the wrong sow by the ear. 



The side or flitch, when salted and dried, makes bacon ; 

 and as this savoury food too frequently becomes the plunder of 

 rats, bats, and other vermin*, it is said of him who has barely 

 escaped a loss or an injury, that he has just saved his bacon. 

 The smoking of hams is as old as Horace, who considered a 

 hock of bacon and greens as fit food for a country farmer. 



" Temere edi 



Quidquam praeter olus, fumosae cum pede pernae." 



The boar, when in anger, foams at the mouth, gnashes his 

 teeth, and whets his tusks, f We learn that, at the tables of 

 the Roman epicures, the flesh of the boar, together with the 

 turbot, or probably the halibut, was considered as rank, and 

 not fit to be served up, till it had been kept a long time : 

 " putet aper rhombusque recens :" and again, " rancidum 

 aprum antiqui laudabant." [Brawn's flesh, skilfully prepared, 

 is, at our own tables, an esteemed and somewhat expensive 

 kind of food.] 



* [One of these is the larva of the insect Z)ermestes lardarius.] 



f [iEsop has taught wise instruction by his fable of the boar whetting 



his tusks in time of peace, that he might be prepared for the most sudden 



presentment of war.] 



