INTRODUCTION^ 23 



extra clothing, by losing the stimulus of necessity, they 

 retain the same appearance throughout the year. Nei- 

 ther are the coverings of the body the only parts that 

 are subject to the effect of climate ; the form and bulk 

 also are equally affected by its operations. By its pow- 

 erful agency, varieties, the most disproportionate, are 

 produced. Compare the eastern pigmy horse, scarcely 

 thirty inches high, and the diminutive ponies of Shet- 

 land : compare these with the stately coach and cart 

 horses of England. — Place together the gigantic arus 

 of Lithuania " ; the monstrous bison of America, with 

 his shoulders surmounted by an enormous lump of flesh; 

 the mild zebu of Africa ; the musk bull of Arctic re- 

 gions ; the European ox, and the dwarf bull of India, 

 not higher than a young English calf; having so done, 

 the extremes of size and dissimilitudes of form and cha- 

 racter will leave us in astonishment at the number and 

 variety of Nature's works. — If we carry on the compari- 

 son to sheep and swine, we shall find the effects of climate 

 as apparent on them as on the horse and ox. In Africa, 

 the sheep are found swift, tall, gaunt, and even bold, with 

 a pendulous dewlap. In Turkey, they are seen with a 

 fleshy rump entirely disproportioned to the other parts. 

 In Persia this disproportion is translated to the tail, 

 which is said, in some instances, to weigh fifteen or 

 even twenty pounds. In Iceland, sheep are found with 



" Naturalists diflTer with regard to the urus, which is considered 

 by the majority of them as the original stock from which our cattle 

 are derived. Cuvier, and some other zoologists, seem disposed to 

 think that neither the urus or bison of the antients, and the aurochs 

 oif the Germans, nor indeed any wild species at present found in 

 Asia, can be considered in this light. Cuvier's researches have dis- 

 covered, as he supposes, the characters of our oxen in certain fossil 

 crania ; and thence he concludes that the primary race has been dC' 

 strayed.— Des Animnux Fossiles, y. 4: Ruminans Foss. p. 51. 



