DERIVATION OF THE TERM HOG. 21 



result, a union of an African pig with a Hampshire hog, would be 

 fruitful, than that a breed composed of the Berkshire, Chinese, and 

 Neapolitan, would produce a good litter. Now, if we take little or 

 no note of the differences in the caudal vertebrae, for the reason 

 assigned by Mr. Eyton among others, what remain ? Differences 

 not exceeding two in the dorsal vertebras, two in the lumbar verte- 

 tebrae, and one in the sacral vertebras, after a course of domestica- 

 tion no one knows how long. We know what breeding will do with 

 dogs. Take a greyhound and a true shepherd's dog, for example, 

 to say nothing of tailless cats. We know what it will do among 

 poultry : it will take away the drooping feathers of the cock's tail in 

 those bantams known to fanciers as hen-cocks, (Sir J. Sebright's 

 breed,) and remove the tail-feathers altogether (rumpless fowls) ; 

 whilst in the top-knotted varieties an osteological difference is pro- 

 duced in the cranium. Man has occasionally an additional lumbar 

 vertebrae. This accidental excess was first detected in the negro, and 

 was laid hold of by those who would have made him a different spe- 

 cies ; but by-and-by they found a white man with one more vertebra 

 than he ought to have had, and wisely said no more about it. 



We have, then, no solid or sufficient grounds for believing that, 

 widely as the domestic hog is spread, and remote and insulated as 

 are some of the localities in which it has been discovered by voy- 

 agers, it is derived from different sources ; although, as we have 

 shown, there are more wild species of the restricted genus sus thar. 

 zoologists formerly suspected. In making these remarks, we may 

 add, that as to every general rule there are exceptions, so some are 

 to be found here. The Papuan hog, caught and reared in captivity, 

 is distinct, and it is probable that the domestic hogs of Borneo, 

 and of some of the islands adjacent, are derived from the wild 

 races there indigenous. Be this as it may, we do not mean to insist 

 upon the fact ; our subject is the ordinary hog, as we see it in its 

 state of contented domestication in Europe, and especially our own 

 country. 



CHAPTER II. 



Derivation of the term Hog The Hog was greatly esteemed by the Romans Worshipped by 

 some of the ancients Swine's flesh prohibited by the law of Moses By that of Mohammed 

 Despised by the Egyptians. 



THE term Hog is stated by Carpenter, to be derived from the 

 Hebrew word *pyi, by which this animal was designated among the 

 Hebrews, a word derived from iyi, to encompass or surround, sug- 

 gested by the round figure, in his fat and most natural state. Boch- 

 art and Schultens, however are more inclined to refer the Hebrew 



