THE COMMON OX. 595 



goldr-leaf betwixt ; and these, under the name of 

 gold-beaters' skin, are afterwards considered, by 

 many persons, to be efficacious in healing recent 

 wounds. Of gold-beaters' skin, the French manu-' 

 facturers of toys sometimes construct little aeros- 

 tatic globes, or balloons, for the amusement of 

 children. 



The Ox has been trained to agricultural labour 

 from the earliest ages of the world. In the Sacred 

 Writings, and in the works of most of the ancient 

 eastern authors, this animal is invariably mentioned 

 as the only one that was employed in the plough. 

 The same is also observable in all the accounts re- 

 specting the agriculture of ancient Greece and 

 Rome. In some parts of India, Bullocks are, at this 

 day, almost exclusively employed for the purpose 

 of carrying weighty commodities. 



" Deprived of the aid of these useful animals, 

 (says the elegant French naturalist, M. de BufFon, 

 in his eulogy on the Ox,) the poor and the rich 

 would alike have great difficulty to subsist. The 

 earth (in France) would remain uncultivated; the 

 fields, and even the gardens, would be dry and ste- 

 rile. It is on the Ox that all the work of the 

 country falls ; he is the most useful domestic that 

 the farmer possesses; and he performs all the 

 labour of agriculture. In former ages, he consti- 

 tuted the only riches of mankind ; and still he is 

 the basis of the riches of those nations which only 

 flourish and are supported by the cultivation of 



lands, 



