THE COMMON OX, 



Utility of the skin, hair, horns, &c. 



to rise. The noise it had made, however, had 

 alarmed the whole herd, and our author was com- 

 pelled to retire. 



It has been remarked, that when an individual 

 of this species happens to be wounded, or is 

 grown weak and feeble through age or sickness, 

 the rest of the herd set upon and gore it to death, 



There is scarcely any part of the ox that is not 

 of some use to mankind. The skin is made into 

 several kinds of leather; the hair is valuable in va- 

 rious manufactures; thehorus, by human ingenu- 

 ity, are wrought into boxes, combs, knife-handles, 

 clrinking-vessels, &c.; and when softened with 

 boiling-water, they become so pliable, as to be 

 formed into transparent plates for lanterns. The 

 bones afford a cheap and excellent substitute for 

 ivory ; glue is made of the cartilages, gristles, and 

 thejfiner pieces of cuttings and parings of the hides, 

 boiled in water, till they become gelatinous and 

 the parts sufficiently dissolved, and then dried; 

 the sinews are converted into a fine kind of 

 thread used by sadlers and others ; the feet yield 

 an oil of great utility in preparing and softening 

 leather; and the importance of the suet, fat, and 

 tallow is well known. Such are the advantages 

 derived from the ox; and if we turn our attention 

 to the cow, whose milk forms so rich and nutri- 

 tive an aliment for the human species, and gives 

 to our tables the important articles of butter, 

 cheese, &c. we shall be almost induced to admire 

 that superstitious veneration which the Gentooar 



VOL. n. NO. ix. 



