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Sierra Club Bulletin. 



one who should attempt to interfere with them than is 

 usually the case. Even man's gentle and faithful para- 

 site, the dog, is wolfish then. How different are the 

 ruminants! One of the processes of their digestion has 

 given the generic name of their tribe to our psychology, so 

 that "to ruminate" and "to reflect" have become syn- 

 onymous. Let him who doubts the power of a strong and 

 well-regulated digestion to contribute mental poise care- 

 fully observe cattle when chewing the cud. Even fierce 

 Texas steers, almost as little civilized as anything that 

 walks, then look quite sentimental, and their eyes have that 

 "mother-look," a far-away, dreamy aspect which reminds 

 one of Buddha and the associations of the lotus-flower. 

 Let not him who has failed to observe this particular 

 phenomenon reject it as fanciful. Only last summer I 

 saw a herd of cattle engaged in the function described, 

 and their look of aloofness and of fine abstraction, as they 

 all stood with their backs to the storm chewing the cud, 

 was most laughable. In their ranks a dignified serious- 

 ness prevailed. Boys and girls of our race, and occasion- 

 ally "grown-ups," betray the rudimentary craving for 

 the cud in the fervor with which they chew spruce gum 

 and various other inferior substitutes. But man has 

 only the faintest conception of what it may be like to 

 chew the cud. The food of the ruminants is then 

 digested to a certain degree, and doubtless is far more 

 grateful to the palate. The fact that it is warm must be 

 in itself a keen delight to a creature whose food as he 

 gathers it is always cold. When the time for chewing the 

 cud comes the deer desires most of all to be unmolested 

 and serene. Even this primary delight is a thing which 

 only an occasional philosopher of the human family 



