500 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



extends towards the vagina, she is impregnated. "When boin 

 animals become creatures of circumstances and education, we 

 teach them to afford us milk, take on fat, and make flesh ; and if 

 males, to receive instruction, and become our willing slaves. By 

 the exertions and management of man, the varieties have become 

 almost innumerable. In Lithuania, the cows are nearly the size 

 of elephants, whereas on the Grampian hills they are but little 

 larger than a goat. These varieties of quality and form have 

 been produced by diversity of climate, soil and human skill. 

 When a farmer possesses a stock of cattle remarkable for com- 

 bining many fine qualities, he naturally desires them to present 

 one color; and particularly if he is a raiser of horses or mules, 

 he prefers them in pairs. Now you must net be surprised if next 

 season, I reveal to you a method by which you may induce your 

 stock to produce any color you please, and either male or female. 



It is a singular fact, that beef and mutton were seldom used by 

 the ancient Romans as food. Pliny recommended that beef, either 

 roasted or taken as broth, should be used as a medicine, but not 

 as an article of diet. In the Latin language there is no word for 

 beef, mutton or veal, and we derive those words from the French. 

 Breeding, fattening or stall feeding cattle for the shambles, was 

 never spoken of by the Roman writers. At one time in Rome it 

 was considered as great a crime to kill an ox as a citizen. Milking 

 qualities were not much regarded, and dairy farming was not at 

 all practiced. The word butter only occurs once in Columella, 

 and then only as a cure for wounds in sheep. Sheep were never 

 fattened in ancient Rome tor their flesh; the fleece appeared to 

 be the only object. Even in Spain, at the present day, sheep are 

 raised for their wool only, and seldom eaten, except in cases of 

 necessity. 



In fattening animals, I would recommend that they should be 

 kept in moderately lighted stalls, that they may be induced to 

 sleep, as the waste of the system is then much reduced, and the 

 food may be diminished accordingly in quantity; at the same time 

 it is advisable that their diet in the evening should be nutritious 

 and readily assimilated, that their systems may be rapidly repaired, 

 which repair is in proportion to the digestibility of the food, to be 



