

By S. H. SWAYNE, M.E.C.S. 



{Bead March 4fh, 1897.) 



BEFORE entering on the particular views whicli I wish 

 to bring forward, I think it well to quote as an 

 introduction the commonly received account of these organs, 

 which is ably set forth in the article " Horn " in the ninth 

 edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica. 



The article says : " The weapons which project from the 

 heads of various species of animals constituting what are 

 known as ' Horns ' embrace substances which are in their 

 anatomical structure and chemical composition quite distinct 

 from each other, and although in commerce also they are 

 known indiscriminately as ' horn,' their uses are altogether 

 dissimilar. These differences in structure and properties are 

 thus indicated by Professor Owen : ' The weapons to which 

 the term horn is properly or technically applied consist 

 of very different substances, and belong to two organic 

 systems as distinct from each other as bones are from teeth. 

 Thus the horns of deer consist of bones, and are processes 

 of the frontal bone ; those of the giraffe are independent 

 bones, or ''epiphyses," covered by hair; those of oxen, 

 sheep, and antelopes are " apophyses " of the frontal bone, 



131 



