NASAL BONES OF THE SWINE AND DO<3. 681 
The ring is passed through what appears to be a prolongation 
of the septum, between the supplemental or swow£-bone, and the 
proper nasal. The animal cannot then get any purchase, to use 
his snout with effect, or the pain which he suffers by the ring 
pressing upon the part soon tames him. But the ring is apt to 
break, or in process of time it wears out, and must be replaced. 
It is a painful operation, and, from the cries of the animal, a 
perfect nuisance to the neighbourhood. A better way is, when the 
pig is young, to cut through the cartilaginous and ligamentous 
prolongations by which the supplemental bone is united to the 
proper nasals. The divided edges of the cartilage will never 
unite again, and the snout will always be powerless. 
The nasal bones of the hog are flatter than any that I have 
yet shewn you. They can thus be so firmly united with the max- 
diaries as to almost appear like one bone, and to have the power 
and strength of one. 
The nasal bones of the hog contain within them, but consi¬ 
derably shallower, the separate channel that has been described 
in the ox and sheep as constituting the enlarged superior meatus. 
The hog, with all his filthy habits, is possessed of very acute 
smell, and, at times, of very delicate taste too. In the course 
of a few days I shall have to give you some illustrations of the 
former. Of the delicacy even of his palate, the peach-orchards 
of North America afford sufficient proof; for he will not touch 
the fruit that has lain only a few hours on the ground, but will 
continue to watch whole hours together for a fresh windfall. 
The nasal bones of the dog are very small. This is the case 
with all carnivorous animals. Instead of constituting the roof 
and part of the outer wall of the nasal cavity, as in the animals 
that have passed in review before us, the nasal bones form some¬ 
times only a portion of the roof. The superior inaxillaries here 
swell into importance, and constitute the whole of the outer 
wall, and sometimes a part of the roof too. The jaws are the 
weapons of offence and defence here, and as much space as pos¬ 
sible is devoted to the insertion of those muscles which shall 
enable the animal to seize and to hold his prey. One of the 
most powerful of these muscles, the masseter, rises from the su¬ 
perior maxillary bone, and spreads over its whole extent, and 
therefore that bone is developed while the nasal is compressed 
into a small space. The substitution of a portion of cartilage 
instead of bone at the posterior part of the orbital ring, in order 
to give more room for the play of the coracoid process of the pos¬ 
terior maxillary, round which the temporal muscle is wrapped, is 
a contrivance of the same nature. The scent of the dog is not 
sacrificed or impaired by the diminution of the nasals, for the 
