THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XVI, No. 190. OCTOBER 1843. New Series, No. 22. 
REMARKS ON THE SUPPOSED IDENTITY OF THE WILD 
OR WHITE FOREST BREED OF CATTLE (the 1)rus 
Scoticus of Modern Naturalists) WITH THE PRESENT 
PEMBROKE AND WEST HIGHLAND BREED. 
By Robert Knox, M.D., F.R.S.E . , Lecturer on Anatomy 
and Physiology, Edinburgh . 
[Communicated through the medium of Professor Dick.] 
My dear Sir, — WE have so frequently talked over the physio- 
logical and natural history of cattle, that I need no apology for 
addressing the following Remarks to you, and through you (for 
that is my object) to the veterinary surgeons of the south of Eng- 
land and of Wales. You possibly may have interest to procure their 
admission into the pages of that excellent periodical The Vete- 
rinarian ; and this, I apprehend, may prove the readiest way of 
obtaining an answer to several questions and suggestions which 
you will find scattered throughout this memoir. 
About six years ago, probably more, I published in i( The Trans- 
actions and Essays of the Highland and Agricultural Society of 
Scotland/’ a memoir on the wild ox of the Hamilton breed of 
cattle, confining my remarks as much as possible to personal 
observation and inquiry. I had no opportunity, it is true, of dis- 
secting the animal carefully, and of instituting a careful compa- 
rison between it and any ordinary domestic breed ; but I had 
the skeleton carefully prepared and articulated, and this, I believe, 
was the first so set up in Britain. As the work containing my 
memoir is of easy access, I shall not trouble you with any quo- 
tations from it, but shall refer from memory merely to the general 
results. 
After much hesitation, I came to the conclusion that there 
are now in Britain several original breeds of cattle quite distinct 
from each other, not convertible into each other by any influence 
VOL. xvi. 4 D 
