176 



SWINE FLESH AND SIZE EAR. 



Sus. PORCUS the SWINE, PIG, or HOG, is too 

 well known in all countries, to need a repetition of 

 its generic description. It is one of the most useful, 

 and perhaps the most profitable, of all the domestic 

 animals, its flesh being greatly conducive to the pur- 

 poses of luxury, but still more universally to the 

 support of human life, in the laborious state. This 

 animal is the general collector of offal and waste, 

 whether in town or country, thereby foraging for a 

 considerable part of its subsistence, the extra cost 

 of which it moreover amply repays. Its flesh, 

 second probably to beef, is the most substantial of 

 human aliment, and may be eaten most frequently 

 without disgust. The- solidity of swine's flesh, says 

 the author of the General Treatise on Cattle, is ap- 

 parent on a comparison of the external superficies 

 of a fat hog, with that of a fat sheep or bullock, the 

 dimensions of which latter animal, must be so much 

 more extensive to equal the weight of the first ; 

 which is also aptly illustrated by the well-attested 

 examples of individual hogs, fed to the enormous 

 weight each, of one hundred, and even one hundred 

 and eighty-two stones, of eight pounds to the stone. 

 This is also said to differ from all other land ani- 

 mals, in the circumstance that the adipose substance, 

 or fat, entirely covers his muscular flesh, in one con- 

 tinued layer or stratum. The upright and pendant 

 ear form specific distinctions in the swine, the latter 

 being the general indication of larger SIZE. The 

 singular variety not dividing the hoof, which were 

 occasionally to be found in the neighbourhood of 

 Windsor, some years since, is now probably extinct. 



