the talleft vegetables, cats thern all dovv^n, and thus 
levels the furface of the grafs. 
The age of the Cow is known by it's teeth and 
horns. It is furniflied witli eidit c'nttino- teeth in 
the lower jaw ; the two middleinof!; of which drop 
Out at the age of ten mont!is, and are replaced by 
others which are broader, but not fo v/hite: at the 
age of fixteen months the two next milk-white 
teeth difappear, and others fiicceed them; and thus, 
at the end of every fix months, the animal lofes 
and gains, till, at the age of three years, all the 
cutting teeth ai-e renewed, and then they are long, 
regular, and pretty white. But as the creature 
advances in years, the teeth grow black and irregu- 
lar; their inequalities become finoother, and con- 
lequently the animal chev/s it's food with more dif- 
ficulty. Thus the Cow often declines from this 
fmgle caufe; for as it requires a great deal to fup- 
port lif?, and as the llnoothnefs of it's teeth renders 
the difhcukv of chev/ing very great, a fufiicient 
quant; tv of food cannot be fjppliecl to thcfcomach ; 
in which cafe the poor animal droops in the miclft 
of plenty, is gradually more and more emaciated, 
and at length expires. 
The horns are likev/ife another, as well as a more 
unerring method, of determining the age of the 
Cow. At three years of age it fheds it's horns, 
and nev/ ones fpring up in their places, v/hich are 
afterwards undeciduous; at four, it has frnall pointed, 
fmooth horns; and, at five, they become larger, 
and are marked round with the formier year's 
growth. Thus, while the animal continues to live, 
it's horns alfo continue to lengthen, and every year a 
new ring is added to their bafes; fo that, by allow- 
ing three years before their appearance, and then 
reckoning the number of annulations, the crea- 
ture's age may be exa-flrly knov/n. 
The Englifli breed ot Cows has been fo greatly 
impioved by a foreign mixture, that v/e cannot 
with any degree of certainty point out the original 
kind in rhefe iflands. Thofe Vv'hich may be fuD- 
pofed to have been purely Britifn, are much linalier 
than thofe on the northern parts of the continent 
of Europe. In the Highlands of Scotland, the 
cattle are extremely fmall; and many of them, 
males as v/ell as females, are deftitute of horns. 
The Welch runts are confiderably larger; and the 
Cornifn black cattle are about the fize of the lat- 
ter. The large fpecies now propagated in moft 
parts of England, are either entirely foreign, or 
our own breed improved by a crofs with the fo- 
reign kind. The Linco]nO:5ire Cows derive their 
fize from tiie Holfcein breed ; and the large horn- 
lefs cattle v/iiich are bred in ibme counties of Eng- 
land, were imported originally from Poland. 
England was once famous for a wild breed of thefe 
animals, but which no longer exift; and this na- 
tion m.ay juftly boaft of having fewer. wild animals 
than any kingdom of Europe. Cultivation and 
agriculture are fure to banifli them wherever they 
are found; and every addition which a country re- 
ceives from art diminifties the number of thofe 
animals which are only adapted to a ftate of na- 
ture. 
The Cow feems more liable to changes from it's 
pafture and climate, than any other quadruped. In 
the different parts of this narrow ifland, we can eafily 
trace the great varieties produced among thefe ani- 
mals by the richnefs or poverty of the foil. In fome, 
they grow to an aftonifhing bulk; and, in others, 
they are proportionably diminutive. The breed 
of the Ifle of Man, as well as of moft parts of Scot- 
land, is in general confiderably lefs than that of 
either England or Ireland / they are alfo differently 
formed, the dewlap being much fmaller, and hav- 
ing more of the neck of the ewe. A few years 
fince, this circumftance v/as confidered as a defor- 
mity in cattle; and the Cow v/as chofen, according 
to Virgil's direftion, with a large dev/lap; how- 
ever, it feems to be au prefent the univerfally re- 
ceived opinion, that the Coy/ wants in udder what 
it has in neck; and the larger the dewlap, the 
fmaller the quantity of it's milk. Graziers there- 
fore endeavour to blend the two breeds, the large 
ElolPcein with the fmall Northern; and from this 
union is produced that fine milch breed which ex- 
cels the cattle of every other quarter of the globe. 
In fnort, in almoft every part of tlie v/oiid, the 
Cov/ is found either large or fmall, in proportion 
to tlie richnefs or poverty of it's food. Thus Afri- 
ca is remarkable for the larseft and fmalleft cattle 
of this kind ; as is alfo India, Poland, Sv/itzerland, 
and feveral other parts of Europe. Among the 
Eluth Tartars, where the paftures are remarkably 
rich and nourifliing, the Cow grows to fuch an 
amazing fize, that a tall man can hardly reach the 
tip of it's fnoulder: in France, on the contrary, 
where this animal is ftinted in it's food, and driven 
from the moft fiouriiliing paft'ures, it greatly dege- 
nerates, and is neither valuable for it's milk or it's 
fiefh. The variation?, however, in the fize of this 
animal, are lefs remarkable tlian thofe of it's form, 
it's hair, and it's horns: in many, indeed, thefe va- 
riations are fo extraordinary, that they have been 
confidered as different kinds of creatures, and 
names have accordingly been applied to them as 
a dift'inft fpecies ; v/hen, as BuiTon afierts, they are 
in facSb the fame. In this manner theurus and the 
bifon have been confidered, from the variety in 
tr.eir make, to be diftin6l in their produftion ; but 
they are all in faf t the defccndants of one common 
fcock, poffefiing that certain mark of unity, namely, 
their breeding and propagating together. Natu- 
raiifts therefore have laboured under an obvious 
error, when on account of the extreme bulk of the 
urus, or the hump on the back of the bifon, they 
have afiigned them different parts in the creation, 
and feparated a clafs of animals which were really 
united. Though the horfe and the afs do not 
differ more in figure than the Cov/ and the bifon, 
the former are diftinc;l animals, their breed being 
marked v/ith fterility; v/hile the latter are of the 
famiC kind, their breed is fruitful, and a race of 
creatures is produced in which the hump belong* 
ing to the bifon in a fiiort time entirely difappears. 
It is evident therefore, that the differences between 
the Cow, the urus and the bifon, are merely acci- 
dental. Nature, which has given horns to ibme 
Covv's, and denied them to others, may alfo, in her 
caprice, have beftowed a hump on the bilbn, or 
enlarged the fize of the urus. 
The Cow is found, in fome one or other of it's 
varieties, in almoft every part of the world ; and, 
in fhort, the variations which are every wiiere fo 
perceptible, as has been previoufly obferyed, arife 
either from climate or food, the cultivation of 
man, or the caprice of nature. The wild Cow 
and the tame ; the animal peculiar to Europe ; and 
that of Afia, Africa, and America; the bonafus and 
the urus ; the bifon and the zebu ; are all one and 
the fame : they generate among each other ; and, 
in the courfe of a few generations, the original dif- 
criminations becom.e extin£t. Of all animials, there- 
fore, man alone excepted, the Cow feems to be 
moft 
