262 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
twelve small fires and one large are lighted, and the company 
pledged in old cyder. In the wheat field ‘a circle is formed 
round the large fire, when a general shout and hallooing takes 
place, which you hear answered from all the villages and fields 
near ; as I have myself counted fifty or sixty fires burning at the 
same time.” This being finished they go to the house for supper, 
here “a large cake is always provided, with a hole in the middle. 
After supper the company all attend the bailiff (or head of the 
oxen) to the Wain-house, where the following particulars are 
observed :—the master, at the head of his friends, fills the cup 
(generally of strong ale), and stands opposite the first or finest of 
the oxen; he then pledges him in a curious toast; the company 
then follow his example with all the other oxen, addressing each 
by its name, This being over, the large cake is produced, and 
is with much ceremony put on the horn of the first ox through 
the hole in the cake; he is then tickled to make him toss his head, 
If he throws the cake behind it is the mistress’s perquisite; if 
before (in what is termed the hoosy), the bailiff claims the prize.” 
This custom is recorded as a Saxon custom, but the wassailing 
bowl is the grace-cup of the Greeks and Romans, and the 
ceremony that of Feriz Sementive. Here, I think, we find an 
example of how customs regarding cattle have been preserved in 
this country. From another source I think I can find confirma- 
tion for the theory that bulls, which for Roman and Druidical 
ceremonies had to be white, were held in reverence by the people 
generally, and in connection with which the colour white would 
play an important part. This is the derivation of the names of our 
farming stock, According to Paley the generic names of our 
> for the most part 
occur in the Saxon, and contain roots not represented in either 
Latin or Greek; but the root of the word “bull,” which is a 
particular and descriptive name, may be traced in the classical 
languages. The words “beef” and “veal” come to us from the 
Normans. ‘The history of these common words is interesting. 
farm stock, as “cow,” “calf,” “kine,” ‘ox,’ 
From the Normans we get our words for the flesh, from the Saxon 
the generic names, and from the Romans the specific name “bull” 
of our farm stock, as represented by cattle. ‘ Bull” thus has 
maintained its individuality through Saxon and Norman times, 
and there must be some reason for it. Was it through ceremonies 
in which the “ white bull” figured ? 
