THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 1 9 



ox is not more than half the size of that of the horse ; but yet 

 the olfactory nerves are nearly as large ; and, indeed, com- 

 paring the volume of the two brains, really larger. 



The sense of smell aids that of taste in the selection of 

 suitable food ; the instinct, guided thereby, impelling the 

 animal to reject what is noxious or improper. 



Taste. The sense of taste, if not at a high ratio, is, never- 

 theless, sufficiently developed for the requirements of the 

 animal, and enables it to distinguish and enjoy the flavour of 

 such plants as aro suited to its nutriment. We may, how- 

 ever, observe, that both this sense and that of smell are 

 liable, in the domestic ox, to be deceived ; especially under 

 particular circumstances, as when, after being kept on winter- 

 fodder, they are turned out to graze in the spring, when the 

 scent of the young herbage is scarcely developed. It is very 

 doubtful whether wild herbivorous animals are ever so de- 

 ceived ; they are constantly in the exercise of their instinctive 

 faculties, which thereby become more acute and discriminat- 

 ing ; while, on the contrary, the tendency of domestication is 

 to curb instinct, which, for want of constant exercise, becomes 

 enfeebled, or less imperious in its governance. Hence it 

 happens that domestic cattle, introduced into strange pas- 

 tures, often perish from eating poisonous plants, which the 

 cattle accustomed to those pastures have learned, by experi- 

 ence, to refuse. The more an ox is stall-fed, the more likely 

 is it, if allowed to graze, to crop deleterious herbage. 



We are told in the ' Swedish Pan ' (Amoenit. Academ., 

 vol. ii.) that oxen eat two hundred and seventy-six plants, and 

 refuse two hundred and eighteen. Among the noxious plants 

 most accessible to grazing cattle are meadow sweet (spiraea 

 ulmaria) ; hemlock (conium maculatum) ; water hemlock (phil- 

 landrium aquaticum) ; water cowbane (cicuta virosa) ; meadow 

 saffron (colchicum autumnale); hellebore (helleborus fceti- 

 dus) ; monkshood (aconitum napella) , foxglove (digitalis pur- 

 purea) ; and yew (taxus baccata). Happily, however, in our 

 island, such is the excellence of pasturage, that fatal acci- 

 dents, from poisonous plants, are not of very common occur- 

 rence. 



It is remarkable, that while the meadow sweet and the 

 long-leaved water hemlock, or cow-bane, are deleterious to the 

 ox, the goat feeds upon them, not only with relish but with 

 impunity. 



When Linnaeus visited Tornea v he found a terrible malady 



