65 
P H A S 
which they are inceffantly rubbed. Thefe are more 
numerous in the gizzard the fcarcer the food is; and they 
continue in it a longer time than any other fubftance, 
whether digeftible or indigeftible. 
But, though the fmall Itones may affifl digeftion, it is not 
afferted that the granivorous birds have a decided view in 
fwallowing them. Redi having Unit up two capons, with 
water and little pebbles for their food; they drank much 
water, and died, the one in twenty days, the other in 
twenty-four, and both of them without having fwallowed 
a tingle (tone. Redi found many in the gizzard, but thefe 
were what had been fwallowed before, as an accompani¬ 
ment of their common food. See farther under the article 
Comparative Anatomy, vol. i. p. 661. 
It was known in the time of Ariftotle, that the cock 
had tefticles concealed within its body. The ancients 
even afcribed to this fituation the fiery paflion of the male 
for the female, who is iefs ardent, they alleged, becaufe 
the ovarium, being placed near the diaphragm, is more 
apt to be cooled by the accefiion of the air refpired. But 
the tefticles are not fo exclufively appropriated to the 
male, as not to be found in the females of fame fpecies of 
birds, as in the little buftard, and perhaps in the great 
buftard ; which are glands fimilar to the teftes of women. 
The bulk of thefe glands.is far from being proportioned 
to that of the bird : in the eagle, they are only of the fize 
of peafe ; in a cock, of four months old, they are as large 
as olives; and they produce mighty effects in the animal 
economy, as is evinced by the wonderful changes effected 
in the bird by cutting them out, whereby they are made 
what we term c«p«. This operation is commonly per¬ 
formed when the bird is three or four months old. After 
emafculation it grows plumper; its flefh becomes more 
juicy and delicate ; and, when fubje£ted to a chemical 
analyfis, yields different produfts from what it would 
have given before caftration. The extract of the lean of 
a capon is fomewhat lefs than the fortieth part of its to¬ 
tal weight; whereas it amounts to one twelfth in a pul¬ 
let, and rather more than one feventh in a cock. Be- 
fides, the extraft of cock’s flefh is very dry, whilft it is 
difficult to feparate the humidity from that of a ca¬ 
pon. The capon is no longer liable to moult; as the 
buck, when eaftrated, never cafts his antlers. The note 
is altered; his voice is broken, and feldom heard ; he is 
treated roughly by the cocks, with difdain by the females, 
and becomes an idle folitary outcaft, all whofe powers are 
direAed on itfelf, and whofe foie object is its individual 
prefervation ; to eat, to deep, to fatten, are its principal 
employments, and conftitute the fum of its wants ; and 
all this to pamper the infatiable appetite of epicures and 
gluttons! But, by a little attention, we can draw advan¬ 
tage from its v.eaknefs, and even its confequent docility, 
by giving it ufeful habits. For inftance, we can teach it 
to rear and tend young chickens. For this purpofe it 
muft be kept fome days in a dark place, only bringing it 
out at regular hours to feed, and accuftomingit gradually 
to the fight and company of a few chickens that are 
pretty ftout; it will foon contrail a fondnefs for them, 
and will lead them with as much afteilion and affiduity 
as their mother. It will even conduit a greater number 
than a hen; for its wings fpread wider, and afford more 
fhelter; and the hen, freed from its toil and folicitude, 
will foon begin again to lay ; and thus the capon, though 
condemned to fieri!5ty, will ftill contribute indirectly to 
the prefervation and multiplication of its fpecies. Where 
chickens are hatched in ovens, capons are extremely ufe¬ 
ful to rear them. . 
The cock has been the fubjeit of another experiment 
that is far Iefs cruel, but perhaps no Iefs important for the 
fcience of phyfiology : it is, after cutting the comb from 
the capon as ufual, to fnbftitute in its ftead one of the 
young fpurs which has juft: begun to fhoot; thus engrafted 
in the root of the comb, it gradually grows into the flefh, 
thence extraits its nourifhment, and often becomes more 
luxuriant than it would in its natural place. Some have 
Vol. XX. No. 1351. 
[ANUS. 
• attained to two inches and a half in length, and more 
than three lines and a half in diameter at the bafe; fome- 
times they are twilled round like the horns of a ram, at 
other times bent backwards like thofe of a lie-goat. The 
reafon why the capon’s comb is cut is, that, after emaf¬ 
culation, it does not (land ereit, but becomes pendulous, 
and would therefore prove inconvenient by hiding an 
eye. 
This operation is a kind of animal engrafting, the 
fuccefs of which would appear very doubtful when firft 
tried, but from which, fince the fuccefs is known, it is 
aftonifhing that no practical information has been derived. 
In general, the deftruitive experiments have been more 
fludied, and purfued with more ardour, than thofe which 
are direfled to prefervation ; becaufe man is fonder of 
cruel experiments than the acquifition of knowledge and 
the exercife of beneficence. Chickens are not hatched 
with thatcrefl and thofe reddifh membranes which diftin- 
guifh them from other birds. It is a month after they 
have left the fiiell before thefe parts begin to unfold ; at 
two months old, the young cocks crow', and fight with 
one another. They feel that they muft: hate each other, 
though the fource of their diflike is not yet unfolded. 
It is commonly five or fix months before they fliow any 
paflion for the hens, and that thefe begin to lay. In both 
fexes, the complete term of their growth is a year, or 
fifteen months. The young hens, it is faid, lay more; 
but the old ones are bell fitters. This period of their 
growth would imply that the ordinary extent of their 
life does not exceed feven or eight years, if the fame 
proportion fubfifted in birds as in quadrupeds. But we 
have feen that this is much longer; a cock will live 
twenty years in the domeftic condition, and perhaps 
thirty years in the (late of liberty. Unfortunately for 
them, we have no interefl in fullering them to reach to a 
great age. The hens and capons that are deflined for the 
table, never enjoy above one year’s exiitence; and 
mofl of them have only one feafon. Thofe which 
are feleited for the multiplication of the fpecies, become 
foon exhaufted, and none are permitted to finifn the 
period affigned them by nature; fo that it is a lingular 
accident, that cocks have ever been known to die of age. 
Poultry can fubfifl in all places under the protection of 
man, and accordingly they are fpread over the whole 
inhabited world. The better fort of people breed hens in 
Iceland, where they lay as in other parts; and the warm 
countries abound with them. But, according to Dr. 
Flyde, Perfia rather than India is the native region of cocks; 
there they are numerous, and held in great eflimatlon. 
The art of fattening capons was introduced by the 
Armenian merchants into Perfia from Europe, as appears 
from Tavernier. 
From their native climate, wherefoever it be, thefe 
birds have fpread over the extent of the ancient continent, 
from China to Cape Verd; and from the Southern Ocean 
to the Northern Sea. Thefe migrations were performed 
in remote ages, far beyond the reach of hiftorical refearch. 
But their fettlemeiit in the New World feems to be a 
much more recent event. The hiflorian of the Incas 
informs us, that there were none at Peru before its con- 
queft; and that, after a refidetice of more than thirty 
years, the hens could not be habituated to hatch in the 
valley of Cufco. Coreal pofitively afferts, that poultry 
were introduced by the Spaniards into Brafil, and that 
the inhabitants of that country would eat none of them, 
and looked upon their eggs as a kind of poifon. Nor, 
according to the tellimony of F. Charlevoix, had the 
natives of St. Domingo any; and Oviedo confiders it as 
a certain fait, that they were carried from Europe to 
America. 
I11 proportion as hens are removed from their native 
region, and accuflomed to another climate and different 
food, they muft: fuffer fome alteration in their fhape, 
or rather in the parts mofl fufceptible of change. Kenee 
undoubtedly arife thofe varieties that conftitute the dif- 
S ferenE 
