FORE FOOT OF THE OX. 
311 
from the spreading of the cloven foot, enough is provided effectu- 
ally to guard against concussion, and to afford the animal a firm 
footing in his natural pastures. 
In reviewing our subject, we must observe that there is a much 
less extent of articulating surface in the fetlock joint, allowing 
a less free and extensive motion, than in the horse. When fully 
extended, it does not vary so much from a straight direction ; in 
fact, a superficial observer of the animal must notice the appa- 
rently upright position of these parts. This arrangement lessens 
the grasp of the fore extremity. A diagram of these bones in 
their greatest degree of extension will bring this fact strongly 
into view. The same variation in these parts in the greyhound 
and the bull-dog, connected as it is with the diversity of speed, 
forms an interesting point of analogy. In examining the foot it 
will be seen that the angle formed by the large pastern and 
the cannon bones in the horse is 60 ^ from a perpendicular line , in 
the ox only 30°, making thirty degrees difference in the angles of 
extension. In observing the contour of the lower part of the 
fore leg of the ox, we cannot but be struck, too, with the absence 
of that comely elegance which we admire so much in his rival. 
In the ox (if an architectural simile be allowable) we are reminded 
of the ponderous Tuscan; in the horse we seem to view the 
graceful and chaste model of the Corinthian column. The pro- 
gression of the former appears to be only a few links from the 
sure-footed fidelity of the elephant; while the latter, though in- 
ferior to the deer in elastic bound, yet possesses'a union of strength, 
security, and swiftness, peculiar to itself, which stamps his superio- 
rity for the use of man in all the temperate climates of the world. 
It is now however, I believe, pretty generally decided, that, for 
common agricultural purposes, working oxen of the fast breed are 
equally useful with horses, and ultimately more profitable to the 
farmer, in a pecuniary point of view. On account of the com- 
parative slowness of their paces, and their peculiar structural pro- 
visions, oxen are much less subject to that almost infinite variety 
of injury to which a constant and great degree qf concussion 
renders horses liable. This circumstance, connected with the 
numerical preponderance of horses in the actual service of man, 
accounts for the profuseness with which authors have dilated on 
the foot of the one, and their comparative silence on the same 
subject in the other animal. I do not believe that there is in the 
English language a single anatomical description of the fore ex- 
tremity of the ox which can guide a student in his dissection ; 
but I have not had an opportunity of examining the French au- 
thorities, and therefore cannot state what information on this sub- 
ject our ingenious neighbours may possess. I have said that 
