14 ORIGIN OF POLLED EACES OF CATTLE. 



constitutes a deviation from the original form of the ox ; 

 that the deviation has been due in the first place to sudden 

 organic changes — whether " spontaneous," " accidental," 

 or " proper," we need hardly inquire ; and that by selec- 

 tion in breeding, the new feature has come to possess the 

 fixity of an original character. But while we believe that the 

 absence of horns may have arisen from some such sudden 

 variation as has been indicated, we nevertheless maintain 

 that the principal races of polled cattle are quite as 

 well entitled to be classed as distinct breeds as any of 

 the horned varieties, and that their chief distinguishing 

 feature, the absence of horns, is now as firmly established 

 as any of those varying characters, either in colour, form, 

 or attributes, that distinguish from each other the leading 

 horned tribes. 



Among those who regard the polled varieties as depar- 

 tures from the original form, it is generally considered 

 as more than probable that these offshoots had appeared 

 after the wild horned cattle had become domesticated. 

 This idea is supported by the fact, that all those fossil and 

 semi-fossil skulls and skeletons which constitute almost 

 the sole witnesses we possess of the existence of wild 

 cattle in Britain itself, as well as in Europe generally, 

 prior to the historic era, would tend to prove the constant 

 presence of horns. Even in the face of these considera- 

 tions, however, we are not prepared to admit that no such 

 variations as the sudden loss of horns had ever occurred 

 among cattle while they roamed in their natural wildness. 

 From all we know, the conditions under which cattle 

 lived before domestication were scarcely less favourable to 

 the occurrence of spontaneous variation than after they 

 had been tamed ; and following the law of analogy, and 

 recognising an inherent power in nature to give forth 

 modified variety — we regard such deviation as the fulfil- 

 ment, rather than as the breach, of nature's laws — we are 

 constrained to assume that among the wild progenitors 



