LECTURE II. 77 



horns. Those of other animals last for life, 

 and yet the large and curiously-branched 

 horns of the stag, though formed of equally 

 durable materials, are cast off annually, 

 and replaced with a celerity of growth 

 that would scarcely be credited by any 

 Physiologist who was not well acquainted 

 with the fact. Of Mr. Hunter's observ- 

 ations on this subject I shall speak here- 

 after ; at present I only wish to mention 

 that he particularly noticed the fact at that 

 time not commonly known or attended to, 

 that, if a stag be castrated, the horns, which 

 are shed annually, are not afterwards renew- 

 ed ; so that the animal having lost the male 

 powers, no longer exhibits their external 

 characters. We do not find, however, Mr. 

 Hunter drawing any inference from this 

 fact, for it warrants none other than the 

 want of the beard in man, would do, from 

 a similar cause, provided he also became 

 bald-faced annually. On the contrary how- 

 ever, we find him much excited by ob- 

 serving, that when the sexual character 

 is annulled by age, the appropriate external 

 signs are not only discontinued, but some- 



