Chap. 77.] 
THE HOG. 
343 
victims until they have two teeth. It has been supposed, 
that when a pig has lost one eye, it will not live long other- 
wise, these animals generally live up to fifteen, or sometimes 
twenty years. They sometimes become mad; besides which, they 
are liable to other diseases, especially to quinsy^ and to scro- 
fula.^ It is an indication that the hog is diseased, when blood 
is found at the root of a bristle pulled from its back, and when it 
liolds its head on one side while walking. When the female 
becomes too fat, she has a deficiency of milk ; the first litter is 
always the least numerous. Animals of this kind delight in 
rolling in the mud,^ The tail is curled, and it has also been 
remarked, that those are a more acceptable offering to the gods, 
whose tail is turned to the right than those which have it 
turned to the left. They may be fattened in sixty days, and 
more especially if they have been kept without food for three 
days before fattening. The swine is by far the most brutish 
of all the animals, and it has been said, and not unaptly, that 
life has been given them in place of salt.^ And yet it has been 
known, that these animals, when carried away by thieves, 
have recognized the voice of their keeper ; and when a vessel 
has been under water through the inclination of one of its 
sides, they have had the sense to go over to the other side. 
The leader of the herd will even learn to go to market, and to 
The term bidens," employed by Pliny, although it literally means 
having two teeth," has been referred to the age of the animal, as indicated 
rather by the respective size of the teeth than by their number. It has 
been supposed to designate an animal of two years old, when the canine 
teeth of the lower jaw had become prominent. — B 
99 This is also referred to by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 18, but is 
without foundation.— B. 
^ Aristotle, ubi supra^ B. viii. c. 26. It is mentioned as a frequent 
occurrence by Plautus, Trinum. A. ii. s. 4, 1. 339. — B. 
Columella, B. vii. c. 10, gives directions for the treatment of hogs 
affected with scrofula. The name of the disease has been supposed to be 
derived from the frequency of its occurrence in this animal, anciently called 
" scrofa." 
It may appear unnecessary to refer to authorities on this subject, which 
is a matter of daily observation ; it has, however, been stated by some 
naturalists, that the hog, in its wild state, does not exhibit any of the 
filthy propensities so generally observed in it when domesticated. — B. 
^ This saying is found in Varro, B. ii. c. 4; it is referred to by Cicero, De 
Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 64, and ascribed to Chrysippus ; " ne putisceret, ani- 
mam ipsam pro sale datam." — B. ^' That they are only of use for their 
fiesh, which is kept from putridity by their life, which acts as salt." 
