THE OX KIND. 31 



excellencies, and his utility in contributing to our comforts and 

 conveniency, does not furnish any food for our support. What- 

 ever may be the advantages or disadvantages of this unprece- 

 dented increase of horses, it appears to be, at present, very 

 difficult to restrain ; and the most judicious and economical 

 taxes have not yet operated as any check to its progress ; nor is 

 it, indeed, likely that they should, since scarcely any one, at this 

 day, will make use of his legs, unless by the compulsatory law 

 of necessity. 



To form a just idea of the various and extensive utility of the 

 ox, we should consider, that there is scarcely any part of him 

 without its use. The skin is manufactured into leather ; the hair, 

 mixed with lime, is used in plaistering ; the bones serve as a sub- 

 stitute for ivory, and being calcined, are used by the refiners as 

 an absorbent, to carry off the baser metals in refining silver; and 

 when ground in a mill, they become the most excellent manure 

 for fertilizing the ground. Boxes, combs, knife-handles, drinking 

 vessels, and various other articles, are made of the horns, which, 

 when softened in boiling water, become so pliable, as to be 

 formed into lanterns an invention ascribed to King Alfred : we 

 are furnished with candles from the tallow, and the feet afford an 

 excellent oil, adapted to a variety of purposes. Glue is made of 

 the cartilages, gristles, and the finer pieces of the cuttings and 

 parings of the hides, boiled in water. The thinnest of the calves' 

 skins are manufactured into vellum. The blood is the principal 

 ingredient in making Prussian blue. Saddlers, and others, use a 

 fine sort of thread, prepared from the sinews, which is much 

 stronger than any other equally fine. The gall, liver, and urine, 

 are not without their uses in medicine, or in manufactures. 



The universally known productions of milk, butter, and cheese, 

 as well as the excellent nutriment which beef affords to the hu- 

 man body, clearly show, that the cow is, of all quadrupeds, and 

 indeed of the whole animal creation, the most beneficial to man. 

 The Egyptians were so sensible of its utility, that in their em- 

 blematical theology, the ox was considered as one of their prin- 

 cipal divinities, or rather as a symbol of that diffusive goodness 

 which they discovered throughout the whole creation. In this 

 country, however, of which the soil and climate are so con- 

 genial to its nature, the poor are in a great measure excluded 

 from the benefits of this excellent quadruped. The observation 

 of Dr. Goldsmith, that " the cow is the poor man's pride, his 

 riches, and support," is pleasing, but unfortunately inaccurate. 

 That agreeable and elegant writer had not been accustomed to 

 see and observe much rura. economy. The monopoly of land 

 deprives the greatest part of the poor of the means of keeping 



