62 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



ing all animals are helped by moderate and gentle 

 exercise, save the hog, who fatteneth lying in the 

 mud, and that mightily, for thereby his pores are 

 shut upon him so that he loseth nothing by evapora- 

 tion. And the hog will fight with the wolf, 

 and that is his nature, and cows fatten 011 every 

 windy thing, such as vetches, beans, and barley, 

 and if their horns be anointed with soft wax, 

 straightway, even while still upon the living animal, 

 they become soft, and if the horns of ox or cow be 

 anointed with marrow, oil, or pitch, this easeth 

 them of the pain in their feet after a journey.' 



In another place l he continues : ' Some animals 

 have teeth which serve them not save for fighting, 

 and not for the mastication of their food. Such are 

 the hog and the elephant, for the elephant's tusks 

 are of use to him in this matter as we have said. 

 And there are animals which make no use of their 

 teeth save for eating or fighting, nay, I believe 

 that every animal having teeth will fight with 

 them upon occasion, and some there are whose 

 teeth are sharp and stand well apart, so that they 

 are therewith furnished to tear prey : such is the 

 lion. And those animals that have need to crop 

 their food, as grass and the like, from the ground, 

 have level and regular teeth, and not long tusks 

 or canines, which would hinder them from cropping; 

 and since in some kinds the males are more apt 

 to anger than the females, tusks have been given 

 them that they may defend the females, because 

 these are weaker in themselves and of a worse 

 complexion, and this is true in a general way of 

 all animals, even in those kinds that eat no flesh, 



1 Ibid. pp. 33 versoj 34 recto. 



