310 STRUCTURE OF THE SHEEP. 



er than the former. The size and shape of muscles are very 

 diversified, some being so minute as to be scarcely visible, as 

 those within the ear ; whilst others, namely, those of the 

 loins and buttocks, are large enough to afibrd a feast for sev- 

 eral persons ; some muscles are thin and spread out like a 

 fan, others are thick and bulky, and whilst some are extreme- 

 ly short, others are cylindrical and of great length. Muscles 

 are furnished with nerves both of motion and sensation : the 

 former convey the mandates of the will, and are thus the 

 cause of motion ; the latter communicate the sense of feeling, 

 and are the medium both of pleasure and pain ; but there is 

 considerably less degree of feeling possessed by the flesh 

 than by the skin. The muscles are composed of fibres, and 

 are bound together by cellular membrane, and they are, in 

 sheep, mostly clothed with fat, which also is deposited amongst 

 the fibres. It is the capability of containing this fat, and the 

 abundance and laxity of the membrane containing it, which 

 distinguishes a sheep of a good from one of a bad breed, 

 and gives to the former that softness and elasticity or resil- 

 iency which is felt on handling it, even when poor. The 

 former sheep, too, possesses large muscles, particularly at 

 those parts where the meat is most esteemed. Thus the 

 loins of a good sheep are broad, and abundantly covered with 

 flesh and fat, and so likewise are the buttocks and the shoul- 

 ders, whilst the head and neck are small. The muscles that 

 are in most constant use are more interlaced with tendinous 

 fibre, and consequently are much less tender, as meat, than those 

 which are less actively engaged. The muscles of the lower 

 part of the legs between the knees and hocks and the joints 

 above, as well as those of the neck and head, are instances 

 of the former kind ; whilst the muscles of the loins, and more 

 particularly those within the pelvis, are examples of the lat- 

 ter, and afford the most tender meat in the body. 



THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 



The brain, the seat of the mind, and the fountain of sen- 

 sation, is a soft body, situated in a cavity of the skull called 

 the cranium. In man it occupies by far the greater portion 

 of the skull ; but, in the sheep, from its much smaller size, 

 and from the large space devoted to the face, its cavity, the 

 cranium, is much the smaller part. It is closely invested by 

 a membrane called the pia mater, whilst the cranium is lined 

 by a firm, strong membrane called the dura mater. Between 



