C E R 
CE'RUSE of ANTIMONY. A white calx of this 
femi-metal, which feparates from the water in which 
diaphoretic antimony has been wafhed. 
CER'VUS,/. [>tE 5 ao?, from xsf«c, a horn, becaufe of the 
exuberance of its horns.] The Deer ; a genus of qua 7 
drupeds belonging to the order of ppcora. The generic 
character are as follow : Horns folid, and moftly branch¬ 
ing; which fall off, and are renewed every year. The 
lower jaw has eight fore-teeth ;• in general this genus 
wants tufks, but fometimes one tufk is found on each 
fide in the upper jaw. The animals of this genus are all 
fond of living in woods ; they fight with their horns, and 
ftrike with their fore feet; they are faid to have no gall 
bladder ; their flefli is univerfally wholefome, and that of 
fome kinds, under the name of venifon, is efteemed a 
great delicacy; fome fpecies are ufed by mankind for 
draught. Mr. Pennant has fubdivided the genus into 
fitch as have the horns palmated, that is, fpread out into 
broad flat boards, having procefles or projections, named 
fnags, fancifully fuppofed to referable fingers, and the 
broad part to have fome likenef3 to the palms of the 
hands; hence the name'; and fucli as have rounded horns, 
likewife branched. It may be nectffary to explain a few 
terms ufed in defcribing the horns of this genus : the 
beam is that part of the horn which riles from the fore¬ 
head, like the item of a tree; the palms are broad flatex- 
panfions of the horns in fome fpecies, which are befet 
round with procefles like Angers, called fnags ; the bran¬ 
ches are fubdivifions of the horns, like tliofe of trees; 
the brow antlers are particular procefles in fome fpecies, 
which arife from the beams near the head, and project 
forwards. The horns grow from the points, and, when 
growing, are covered with a (kin which is extremely vaf- 
cular, and clothed with a fine velvet fur ; from which 
circumitance the growing horns are named velvets; this 
fkin dries, fhrivels, and falls ofF, when the horns have at¬ 
tained their full fize. 
i. Cervus Camelopardalus, or giraffe ; a very Angular 
animal, having Ample perfiftent horns, covered with fkin, 
blunt and abrupt at the ends, and terminated with a tuft 
of black hair. In the lower jaw are eight broad, thin, 
fore-teeth ; the outermofl, in each fide, being deeply di¬ 
vided into two lobes. It inhabits Senniar, Ethiopia, and 
the interior parts of Africa; though rarely in Abyffinia, 
and is never found in Guinea; it extends fouthwards to 
the country of the Hottentots behind the Cape of Good 
Hope. It feeds chiefly on the leaves and tender fhoots of 
trees, but likewife grazes occafionally, at which time it is 
obliged to fpread its fore feet very wide. It is gentle, ti¬ 
mid, and fhy; runs very aukwardly, and is eafily taken, 
but is very lcarce and rarely met with ; when about to lie 
down, it kneels like the camel; when Handing ere£l and 
holding up its head, it meafures feventeen feet from the 
crown of the head to the ground, eighteen feet from the 
pc’ it of the nofe to the end of the tail ; it is only nine 
feet high at the rump, the neck is feven feet long, and 
the diftance from the withers to the rump is fix feet. 
This is a very handfome animal, of a mixed reddifh and 
white colour, marked with numerous large dufky fpots ; 
the head fomewhat refembles that of a horfe, having 
middle-fized, ereft, pointed, ears, and fhort ere£l horns 
about fix inches long, which are covered with a hairy 
fkin; thefe are blunt, as if cut off at the ends; the 
neck is long, thin, and ere&, and is provided on the ridge 
w ith a fhort ereft mane, which extends quite down to 
the back ; the tail is long and round, reaching to the fe- 
cond joint of the hind legs, and is tufted with long, flow¬ 
ing, coarfe hairs at the end. It is a vulgar error that the. 
fore legs are longer than thofe behind, for the great dif- 
proportion between the height of the fore and hind parts, 
depends on the great depth of the fhoulders, and the 
length of the neck. 
M. le Vaillant, in his travels through the fouthern 
parts of Africa, gives the following account of this cu¬ 
rious animal s “ The giraffe has an undoubted pre-emi- 
C E R 52 
nence over all other quadrupeds in refpefl to its height, 
reckoning from the point of the hoof to the tip of its 
horns : I ufe this expreffion to make mytelf uaderftood; 
for, ftriftly fpeaking, the animal has no horns ; but what 
are ufiially fo termed, is Amply a projection, or a conti¬ 
nuation of two portions of the cranium, arifing perpen¬ 
dicularly and parallel to each other between the ears, and 
about eight or nine inches in height. This, projection 
terminates with a convex furface, edged with a tuft or 
ftraight briftly hairs. The female has four teats, and is 
fmaller than the male. We are not to eftimate this ani¬ 
mal’s ftrength in proportion to its fize. It feems to confift 
of little more than neck and legs ; the contrail] alfo, be¬ 
tween the anterior and pofterior parts, is equally remark¬ 
able. About the fhoulders it is thick, deep, and ftrong; 
but the form of its pofteriors is lb thin and meagre, that 
they do not appear to be made for each other. The fi¬ 
gure of this animal given in fevera! authors is inaccurate j 
they reprefent the horns terminating in a point, and ex¬ 
tend the hair from the fhoulders to the origin of the tail, 
which are both contrary to faCf.” 
The giraffe was known to the Romans in the early pe¬ 
riod of their hiftory ; it appears among the figures in the 
aflemblage of cajlern animals on the celebrated Prsenef- 
tine pavement, made by the direCIion of Sylla, and is re- 
prefented both grazing and browzing, in its natural atti¬ 
tudes. It was exhibited at Rome by Caefar, among other 
animals in the Circsean games; and is finely and juftly 
deferibed by Oppian. 
2. Cervus Alces, the elk; an inhabitant of Europe, A- 
merica,and Afiaas far as Japan. This animal is chiefly found 
in the.northern parts of both continents, and frequents 
poplar woods and other forefts, browzing on the twigs 
and branches of trees ; the likewife often feed on marfhy 
plants, and are faid to be very fond of the anagyris fee- 
tida, or. flanking bean-trefoil. The elk is larger than a 
horfe, meafuring from fifteen to feventeen hands high ; 
the head is coarfe and large, with very long, upright, 
flouching, ears; a very broad, fquare, upper lip, deeply 
furrowed, and hanging much over the mouth; a very 
broad,nofe, with large noftrils ; the horns have no brow 
antlers, the palms are very broad, plain on the infide, 
and having many fharp fnags on the out fide ; the neck is 
fhort and flouching, with a fhort upright mane, and a 
hairy wattle on the throat; the fhoulder is very high; the 
tail extremely fhort; the hoofs are much divided, and 
the fpurious hoofs large and loofe: the general colour 
is a hoary black, but greyefl about the face. It is a mild 
animal, except in the feafon of love, when wounded, or 
when teazed with the gad-fly. Its pace is very ungrace¬ 
ful, confiding of a high fhambling trot, during which 
their fpurious hoofs make a loud rattling noife ; but they 
go with great fwiftnefs, and were formerly ufed in Swe¬ 
den to draw fledges, with which they have been known to 
travel more than fifty miles a day. The hide is faid to 
be fo thick as to turn amufket-ball, and makes excellent 
buff leather. The flefli is very light and nourifliing ; the 
nofe is efteemed a great delicacy ; and the tongues, when 
falted, are much admired. Mr. Pennant mentions a 
fpecies of elk, the horns of which are frequently dug up 
from peat-bogs in Ireland, but the living animal is un¬ 
known, having long been extirpated from that country ; 
the horns are vaftly larger than tliofe of the elk, befides 
being very differently formed, and meafure fometimes 
eight feet long each, and fourteen feet between their tips. 
3. Cervus Tarandus, the rein deer ; has long, round¬ 
ed, flender, horns, which bend forwards, and are palmat¬ 
ed at the ends. There are feveral varieties ; as the com¬ 
mon rein deer; the Greenland rein deer ; the Canadian 
rein deer, &c, It chiefly inhabits the moll northern moun¬ 
tains of Europe, Afia, and America, as far as Spitfbergen, 
Greenland, and Kamtfchatka ; it is found likewife in the 
more fouthern parts of Ruffia, and even in Sardinia, tho’ 
fmaller; the horns have likewife been found in marie pits 
in Scotland, In Lapland the wild rein deer inhabit the 
hlgheft 
