96 
FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 
cultural enterprises depends in general upon the extent to which these animals are 
multiplied and improved. 
The acknowledged importance of the domestic animals, in an economical point of 
view, has led agriculturists in all ages to pay peculiar attention to them, in order to 
bring up, feed, dress, treat, and shelter these animals in such a way, as to draw from 
them the greatest possible amount of benefit in the most economical manner; and, by 
multiplying and improving the breeds, to render them proper for their several des- 
tinations. 
Without entering into those details, which belong to Agriculture rather than Zoo- 
logy, it may be proper here to point out some of the important advantages which re- 
sult to the cultivator himself, as well as to society at large, by the successful culti- 
vation of the domestic animals. 
In respect to the former, unless the cultivator can easily and economically procure 
a sufficient supply of those manures, of which he is in almost daily want, the produce 
of the soil will in general be feeble and uncertain. Destitute of these animals, the 
agriculturist would be deprived of the principal articles of his doily consumption. In 
fact, rural establishments would want that activity which renders them at once agree- 
able and useful. 
When considered as objects of public utility, the domestic animals possess many 
claims to our regard. The cultivation of the Cereal plants, which contribute so 
largely to our maintenance, deservedly occupies the first consideration, and those 
animals, which are raised for alimentary purposes, possess at least a sec.ond idaim to 
our regard, since they tend directly, on the one hand, to increase the former by their 
manures, and indirectly to economize their consumption. In equal bulks of animal 
and vegetable food, nearly twice the quantity of nutritive parti(des is contained in the 
former as in the latter ; and a pound of meat will in general be as nutritious as two 
pounds of bread. 
The numerous and important advantages which l\Ian derives from the domestic 
animals, have led all nations from their earliest origin to regard them with the most 
scrupulous attention. On referring back to the first ages of which we have any au- 
thentic records, we see the chiefs of tribe.s, the patriarchs and first sovereigns, paying 
a special attention to the management of cattle, and founding on thb solid basis, not 
onlv their own prosperity, but that of their contemporaries and descendants. The 
sacred books and the most ancient historians furnish repeated examples of these facts, 
which are too well known to be repeated here. At this remote period, when Man, 
just formed by the Divine Power, entered upon the dawn of his civilization, the do- 
mestic animals were considered not only as the most firm support of Agriculture, but 
they yielded the most valuable materials for Commerce. As the principal wealth of 
the times consisted in domestic ammals, these naturally became the first medium of 
exchange between nations. Cattle were therefore the first money that existed, as 
they were the first article which possessed exchangeable value. We have a confirmation 
of this fact in the circumstance, that the first acknowledged representatives of mer- 
cantdc value, the earliest metallic money which passed current, was decorated with an 
image of these animals, indicating that it maintained an equal value. They were also 
the earliest offerings presented by most nations to their deities; and the ancient 
..ligyptians worshipped the Hud, yf/jw, with the highest veneration. If we turn to 
that nation, which has left us the most extensive and important written monuments of 
its experience in the different branches of rural economy, wo shall find the ancient 
Romans applying themselves with remarkable zeal to the training and management 
of cattle. We have an evidence of this fact in the term jvmcnta^ which they ap- 
plied generally to all kinds of cattle, derived from to help. There is also the 
term peennia^ money, from which we have derived our English a<ljective pecuniary, 
and the Latin term pe.cutUnn, from which we have derived our peculation, alike de- 
rived from pecus, whieh the Romans applied to cattle in general. Cato the elder, 
the first of their agriculturists who has transmitted his precepts to our times, on being 
asked by some persons to point out that particular branch of rural speculation which 
should command their first tittontion, if they wished to at?quire wealth in the quick- 
est possible manner, is said to have replied, “ IMamgre your cattle well;'* and on 
being again asked, what was the next best object of their attention, if they wished to 
derive only a tolerable return for their Labour, he replied, “ Manage your cattle toler- 
ably well.” In the countries of civilized Europe, we find that a large portion of the 
wealth of their inhabitants consists in CTittlo; and we <?an commonly form a good no- 
tion of their respective degrees of agricultural prosperity, as well as of the comforts 
of the cultivator, by noticing the number and quality of the domestic animals. 
Since the proper management of Cattle is thus an undoubted and inexhaustible 
source of wealth, it may bo interesting here to trace the principal rute.s oi conduct, 
which should form the guide of the Agriculturist and Grazier. These remarks will 
be equally valuable to the XaturaJist, as they are more or less applicable to all terres- 
trial ^lammalia. The chief points to which our remarks arc confined are the influ- 
1 ‘uce of .station, soil, climate, food, exercise, lodging, dressing, as well as the applica- 
tion of these to the several puiqioacs for which the animals are finally intended. 
The station in which the domestic animals arc maintained may be low or elevated, 
dry or moist; and these four qaiUties impart corresponding properties to the animals 
which receive their influence. Ih'culiaritios of station are often combined together in 
pair.-;; thus, an elevated station is often dry, while a low station is ivmallv damp. 
■When an elevated station is dry, it is generally more healthy than a low one when 
damp. The air in the former is lighter, keener, and more pure: and communicates 
its bracing qualities to such animals as are continually exposed to its influence. The 
vegetable nutriment which it yields is more scanty, hut it is, at the same time, more 
substaTitial, and rather imparts force and enercy to the anima's wliie.h are fed thereon 
ti.au volume of body. Tins kind of soil is best adapted for the Ooat, the .Sheep, and 
the praaler pait of the Kuminantia, which select it naturally when allowed to run at 
large. 
A low soil, when damp, appears to be unfavourable to most conatitutions. The 
air seems overloaded with heterogeneous miasmata; it is, therefore, less healthy, and 
being of greater specific gravity, communicates a corresponding dulness of motion to 
those animals which are habitually exposed to its influence. T he excessive moisture 
constantly surrounding thorn relaxes the fibres of their bodies, elongates their mem- 
branes, extends their limbs, and renders the whole animal more massive, ponderous, 
and slow in its movements. Vegetable food is more abundant in these situations, 
but it is more watery, and less nutritious ; it loses in quality what it gains in quantity, 
and induces cor^iulence rather than energy ; and while it promotes an increase of size, 
diminishes strength. Poisonous plants appear to be more abundant in these situa- 
tions than in stations of an opposite kind, and animals are not only exposed to the 
prevailing miasmata, but are, as it were, in a continual bath of vapours. This kind 
of station is best adapted for the Buffalo, the Bull, and the Hog. 
The middle point between both extremes, as in many other matters, seems to bo 
the most favorable to a largo number of domestic animals. It is best suited, in par- 
ticular, when accompanied by a proper degree of heat, to the Horse, the Ass, tbo 
Dog, the Cat, the<. Rabbit, and the Hare. Plains are especially adapted for the Soli- 
peda, in which stations they are more at liberty to exercise their limbs. 
We may perceive from these general observations, that there necessarily exists a 
most intimate relation between the nature of the places inhabited by the domestic 
animals, and the general aspect of those animals. The prevalent character of each 
race appears greatly to depend upon that of its station. Thus, we see in low and 
moist districts, that these animals exhibit an aqueous temperament ; their flesh appears 
soft, and the animah themselves acquire a certain degree of apathy and stupidity. 
Upon an elevated and dry soil, they possess, on the contrary, a certain degree of 
fineness of structure ; their flesh is delicate and muscular ; tlicir girth slender ; their 
movements rapid ; and they assume an increased sensibility corresponding to their 
agility and vigour. 
The quality of the soil likewise exercises a considerable influence upon the average 
bulk of animals, and it has been observed, by a law which is equally applicable to 
Plants, that those frequenting elevated mountains, whether granitic or schistous, and 
silicious soils when dry and arid, are smaller than those frequenting calcareous plains, 
luxuriant in herbage, as well as low and moist countries. In the latter case, their 
fibres are soft and better supplied wnth nutriment ; the meshes of their animal tis- 
sues remain more lax, and acquire a greater degree of extension than in the preceding 
case, where the fibre enutinues dry and short. On this account, in low and moist 
soils, and in fertile valleys, the same races of domestic animals exhibit greater bulk and 
corpulency than upon a dry, elevated, stony, and stcril soil. It is also from this 
cause that the Horses, Bulls, and Sheep of Holland, Belgium, and the rich pastures 
of Switzerland and France, become more bulky than animals of the same species brought 
up in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Appenines, and all rough and mountainous si- 
tuations. 
It thus appears unquestionable, that the nature of the soil exerts a powerful influ- 
ence over the constitution of the domestic animals, and that it demands the most scru- 
pulous attention on the part of the rural Economist. 
Climate acts in a powerful manner upon the jiliysical constitution of animals, and 
demands at least an equal share of attention. By the terms difference of climate, we 
commonly include, in a general manner, nil those conditions of the atmosphere which 
occasion a greater degree of heat and moisture to prevail in one place rather than in 
another; and it may be easily imagined, that if the. nature of the media, in which 
animals habitually reside, exercises an important influence over them, they will also 
he influenced by the temperature and moisture of the climate. They are more sus- 
ceptible than Man to the immediate influence of changes of temperature, from being 
continually exposed to the inclemency of the air, and seem acutely sensible of great 
and sudden changes of the atmosphere. We even observe them foretelling and an- 
nouncing an approacliing change of the weather by various premonitory signs. 
As the climate may be either hot or cold, dry or moist, each of these conditions 
induces very different results in respect to their reproduction, constitution, ameliora- 
tion, and, in general, all the vital functions of the domestic animals. 
Heat being one of the most powerful stimuli of the vital reproductive powers, seems 
conducive botli to fertility and growth, especially wh(m accompanied by moisture ; 
cold, on the contrary, is generally injurious. Wo remark that Nature develops all her 
treasures of fertility in the ardent climates of the *9.outh, w’hlle the icy regions of the 
North are generally less peopled, more uniform and inanimate in their general aspect. 
Melancholy solitudes replace, in these desolate regions, the most active and well" 
marked scenes of animation, w'hich, however, arc less permanent, and pass more rapid- 
ly away. 
It thus appears, that the active force of heat, which boars an intimate relation to 
that of light, exalts the intensity of all the faculties and properties, and gives them 
the fullest energy which they arc capable of acquiring. By the same law which as- 
signs to the plants of tbo South more exquisite flavours, aromata, essential oils, per- 
fumes, and colours, than to those of the North, we find the animals of warm countries 
also exhibiting a greater richness and variety in their hues, more vivacity and ener- 
gy of character, more activity and strength in all their parts. Everything proclaims 
in Nature the beneficial influence of warmth over reproduction, as well as upon the 
form ami qualities of its productions 
It appears, however, that heat, while it augments the energy' of the vital power.', 
contributes a more diminutive growth to the organs of the different functions, proba- 
bly because the moisture which contributes much to this development Is less abundant, 
and because the solids of the animal body bear a greater ratio to the fluids, which 
are more or less dissipated by heat. Climates of dry and warm character rend^^ 
their fibres rigid, slim, moveable, and in-itable, and they become deprived <d that 
moisture, which had lessened their sensibility by softening them. Thus, we constantly 
observe that Horses, Bulls, Sheep, Goals, Dogs, and other domestic animals, are p*"® 
portionably smaller, but more vivid, ardent, and active in warm countries, than am- 
mals of the same species in colder regions, provided always that the cold bo not 
intense. An excess of cold is, however, still more injurious to growth. The largest 
races of cattle are found in temperate (dimates, which are moderately cold and 
A moderate degree of cold, by giving density and elasticity to the animal fibre, wh‘'^ 
influenced by an adequate supply of moisture, becomes at once favorable to the 
and multiplication of the species. 
"U'e may also remark, that the influence of climate upon the reproduction 
imported from foreign countries merits a high degree of attention from the 
of animft** 
Agricul*^®' 
