xxi HORNS 273 



spaces in the frontal bones are absent in young animals, 

 and appear gradually with the growth and development 

 of the facial and cranial bones. The formation of the 

 horn core is a post-natal event, and as the air sinuses 

 extend into the frontal bone in some antelopes they 

 involve the base of the horn core ; the extent to which 

 it is permeated depends on the age of the animal. The 

 pedicle, or bridge, which forms the support for the 

 horns of hartebeests is quite hollow. This is also true 

 of the horn core of the topi. The large horn-cores of 

 the kudu and oryx are solid. The museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons contains some specimens, 

 obtained from Sir Victor Brooke's collection, which 

 specially illustrate this point. Also some sections of 

 horn-cores from oxen, so permeated with sinuses as to 

 appear on section like honeycombs. 



The horns of the rhinoceros, as its name specifies, 

 grow on its nose : they contain no bony core, yet that 

 portion of the nasal bone which underlies the horns of 

 these huge and ugly beasts has a bony projection, but 

 it does not enter into the composition of the horn, 

 for this part of the rhinoceros is formed from the 

 superficial (epithelial) layer of the skin which under- 

 goes a change termed by physiologists, keratinisation, 

 which means that the part becomes converted into 

 horn. As a matter of fact the horns on the nose of 

 a rhinoceros are from an anatomical point of view a 

 mass of agglutinated hairs. Sir John Willoughby shot 

 a rhinoceros in East Africa (1889) with three horns in 

 a row, one behind the other. The skin with the horns 

 on it was shown at a meeting of the Zoological Society, 

 London. 



Of the two horns the front one, that nearest the 

 animal's snout is usually the longer, it rarely exceeds a 

 foot in length, but some examples have measured as 

 much as forty inches. Rhinoceros horn is used for 

 making handles for walking sticks and umbrellas, it is 

 easily cut with a knife and if a fragment be soaked in 



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