VIII 

 CATTLE 



I. The Bull, the Ox, and the Cow 



These horned beasts belong to an important 

 group of domestic animals, if not from all 

 points of view, at an\- rate from that of their 

 utility to man. In fact no domestic animal 

 contributes so much to man's welfare as the 

 cow and her kind. She gives us milk, our 

 most important food, to drink; she provides 

 us with butter and cheese, both wholesome 

 and rich in food nutriments ; her flesh enters 

 largely into our dietaries ; the leather made of 

 her hide covers our feet and provides us with 

 necessities and luxuries in other directions ; 

 and finally her bones, blood, and <.)ffal fertilize 

 our gardens and fields. 



This race, together with the sheep and the 

 goat, forms part of the great family of rumi- 

 nants, the members of which differ very little 



thought to be a descendant of the iirus exist- 

 ing in Caesar's day, and French beeves are 

 supposed to be descended from the bison. The 

 Podolian nr Hungarian o.\, whitish gray with 

 long horns, and of immense height, which 



Cow WITH Uneven Horns 



draws the heaviest loads over hundreds of miles, 

 is related to the great white oxen of Italy, 

 Spain, and Algeria mentioned by Varro. 



It is, however, difficult to determine at what 

 period the race appeared in Europe. We find 

 it by the side of man in all peoples and tribes 

 as they issued from barbarism. The Egyptians 

 utilized it thousands of years ago ; in fact they 

 had such respect for certain bulls that they 

 worshiped them as gods. The Chinese and 

 from one another in the conformation of their the Japanese, civilized nations while Europe 

 teeth and stomachs. The bovines form a sub- was still in its swaddling clothes, also used 

 division of the class of horned beasts by reason oxen as draft animals thousands of years ago, 

 of their horns being hollow. and do so still, just as we do. After Europe 



This race (bos tatinis) must have had many became civilized we find bulls or oxen serv- 

 ancestors. For instance, the Frisian ox is ing as reproducers of their species or as 



20.S 



Two Orph.ans 



