Chap. 45.] 
YAIIIOUS KIJ^DS or HOil]JfS. 
45 
like the ears ; and among the cattle of the Troglodytge, they 
are pointed downwards to the ground, for which reason it is 
that they are obliged to feed with the head on one side. 
Other animals, again, have a single horn, and that situate in 
the middle of the head, or else on the nose, as already 
statedJ^ 
Then, again, in some animals the horns are adapted for 
butting, and in others for goring ; with some they are curved 
inwards, with others outwards, and with others, again, they 
are fitted for tossing : all which objects are effected in vari- 
ous ways, the horns either lying backwards, turning from, or 
else towards each other, and in all cases running to a sharp 
point. In one kind, also, the horns are used for the purpose 
of scratching the body, instead of hands. 
In snails the horns are fleshy, and are thus adapted for the 
purpose of feeling the way, which is also the case with the ce- 
rastes ; some reptiles, again, have only one horn, though the 
snail has always two, suited for protruding and withdrawing. 
The barbarous nations of the north drink from the horns of the 
urus,'^^ a pair of which will hold a couple of umse other 
tribes, again, point their spears with them. "With us they are 
cut into laminae, upon which they become transparent ; indeed, 
the rays of a light placed within them may be seen to a much 
greater distance than without. They are used also for various 
appliances, of luxury, either coloured or varnished, or else 
for those kinds of paintings which are known as cestrota,"'^ 
or horn-pictures. The horns of all animals are hollow within, 
it being only at the tip that they are solid : the only excep- 
tion is the stag, the horn of which is solid throughout, and 
is cast every year. "When the hoofs of oxen are worn to the 
quick, the husbandmen have a method of curing them, by 
anointing the horns of the animal with grease. The substance 
of the horns is so ductile, that even while upon the body of 
the living animal, they can be bent by being steeped in boil- 
ing wax, and if they are split down when they are first shoot- 
ing, they may be twisted difi'erent ways, and so appear to be 
71 B. viii.cc.29— 31. 
'^^ The Coluber cerastes of LinnsEUs. See B. viii. c. 35. 
'^^ The drinking-horns of our Saxon ancestors are well known to the 
antiquarian. 
The " urna" was half an "amphora," or nearly three gallons. 
7^ See B, XXXV. c. 41. 
