78 SKETCH OF THB HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



7 — 7 

 molars, - — - = 44. The canines of the upper jaw are 



prismatic, and curve downwards, having their anterior 

 surface worn by the action of the huge canines of the 

 lower jaw, which are sharp, sweep out from the sides of 

 the mouth, and often attain to the length of eight or ten 

 inches, and sometimes even more. These canines or 

 tusks are terrible weapons : rushing on his antagonist, the 

 boar strikes obliquely upwards, right and left, with pro- 

 digious violence ; a mode of action the best calculated 

 for bringing these weapons into effective play, and in 

 which the muscular powers of the neck and shoulders are 

 the most advantageously and naturally exerted. 



The Domestic Hog 



is too well known to need any description ; and its utility 

 too well appreciated to require comment. It is not, 

 however, valued alike in all countries, and in some is 

 regarded with abhorrence. In India both Brahmin and 

 Mussulman reject its flesh as food, yet in many districts of 

 that country semi-domesticated hogs wander about the 

 villages, feeding on the refuse which they pick up in the 

 streets. Colonel Sykes states that in Dukhun "every 

 village abounds with hogs, but any property in them is 

 equally abjured by individuals and the community." De- 

 testation of the hog was a feeling entertained by certain 

 nations in remote antiquity. It was classed by the Jews 

 among the vilest animals, and in Egypt the swineherd was 

 numbered among the profane, and forbidden to enter the 

 temples of their gods ; even the lowest dregs of the people 

 retused to bestow their daughter on liim in marriage. 

 The Egyptians sacrificed the hog to Bacchus, and to the 

 moon when full. " In the evening of the festival of 

 Bacchus," says Herodotus, " though every one be obliged 

 to kill a hog before the door of his house, yet he imme- 

 diately restores the carcase to the swineherd that sold 

 him." The ancient Scythians, according to the same 

 authority, made no use of swine, nor sutiered any to be 



