THE WILD OX OF EUROPE 



AMONG many losses attributable, directly or indirectly, to 

 the first French Revolution appears to be one which is 

 absolutely irretrievable, and must ever remain a source of 

 the deepest regret to the naturalist. Up to that time there 

 were preserved in Alsace two huge horns commonly 

 reputed to belong to the great extinct wild ox of Europe. 

 The one was kept in the cathedral at Strassburg, the 

 other in the episcopal palace at the neighbouring town of 

 Zabern, or Saverne. The former was of great length 

 (6 ft. 6 in.), and comparatively slender, while the second 

 (which was mounted with silver and used as a drinking- 

 horn) was also very large and apparently stouter. Its 

 length is not given, but its capacity was so great that it 

 would hold four litres of wine. 



The French naturalist Buffon, who saw the Strassburg 

 specimen, believed that it was truly the horn of a wild 

 ox, or aurochs, but this opinion is disputed by Prof. 

 Nehring, of Berlin, who, on account of its great length and 

 slenderness, considers that it belonged to a domesticated 

 Hungarian bullock. This is confirmed by an ancient 

 tradition that the horn in question was that of one of 

 the oxen employed in carting stones for building the 

 cathedral, and Dr. Nehring's view may accordingly be 

 accepted. 



On the other hand, the Zabern horn, whose capacity, as 



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