CHAPTER I 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OX. 



The Ox belongs to the class mammalia, animals having mammae, 

 or teats ; the order ruminantia, ruminating, or chewing their food 

 a second time ; the tribe hovidoe, the ox kind ; the genus hos, the 

 ox, the horns occupying the crest, projecting at first sideways, and 

 being porous or cellular within ; and the sub-gi^nus hos taurus, or 

 the domestic ox. 



Distinguished according to their teeth, they have eight incisors, or 

 cutting teeth, in the lower jaw, and none in the upper. They have 

 no tusks, but they have six molars, or grinding teeth, in each jaw, 

 and on each side. 



The whole would, therefore, be represented as follows : — 



The ox, incisors f, canines f, molars f-|. Total, 32 teeth. 



The native country of the ox, reckoning from the time of the flood, 

 was the plains of Ararat, and he was a domesticated animal when he 

 issued from the ark. He was found wherever the sons of Noah 

 migrated, for he was necessary to the existence of man ; and even to 

 the present day, wherever man has trodden, he is found in a domes- 

 ticated or wild state. The earliest record we have of the ox is in the 

 sacred volume. Even in the antediluvian age, soon after the expul- 

 sion from Eden, the sheep had become the servant of man ; and it 

 is not improbable that the ox was subjugated at the same time. It 

 is recorded that Jubal, the son of Laraech, who was probably born 

 during the life-time of Adam, was the father of such as have cattle. 



The records of profane history confirm this account of the early 

 domestication and acknowledged value of this animal, for it was wor- 

 shipped by the Egyptians, and venerated among the Indians. The 

 traditions of every Celtic nation enroll the cow among the earliest 

 productions, and represent it as a kind of divinity. 



