THE OX. 
XI 
HISTORY. 
support this hypothesis, there is nothing certainly founded on analogy that can enable us to invalidate it. There is nothing more 
incredible in the supposition that animals should diminish in size, with changes in the condition of the earth, than that they should 
be extinguished altogether, and supplanted by new species. The fossil Urus inhabited Europe when a very different condition 
existed with regard to temperature, the supplies of vegetable food, and the consequent development of animal forms. Why should 
not the Urus, under these conditions, have been a far larger animal than he subsequently became ? We know by experience the 
effects of food in increasing or diminishing the size of this very race of animals. The great Ox of the Lincolnshire fens exceeds 
in size the little Ox of Barbary or the Highland Hills, as much as the fossil Urus exceeded the larger Oxen of Germany and 
England: and we cannot consider it as incredible, that an animal which inhabited Europe when Elephants found food and a 
climate suited to their natures, should have greatly surpassed in magnitude the same species under the present conditions of the 
same countries. 
When CAESAR states that the Uri of the Hercynian forest were little short of Elephants in size, he did not use a very 
exaggerated figure. Some of the larger domestic races of England, Germany, and the Ukraine, are little lower than Elephants, 
and were these large creatures to be seen in the wild state, it would scarcely be an error to employ the expressions which Caesar 
used to convey ideas of their magnitude. It is in no degree necessary, then, to assume that the Uri described by Caesar were 
identical with the fossil species, or different in any degree from those which a few centuries later inhabited the same forests. 
That the wild of the Bos taurus inhabited in like manner the woods of Western Asia, may, from analogy, be inferred. The 
Scriptures speak of wild oxen, as distinguished from those that are tame; and the Arabian poets abound with allusions to the 
hunting of the wild bull, but do not afford data for determining whether this was the Urus, the Bison, or some other species. 
This creature has been domesticated from the earliest records of human society, and may be deemed to have been an instru¬ 
ment under Providence for leading men from the savage state. Although endowed with vast physical powers, his instinct leads 
him to yield up his faculties to the services of man, by assisting him in bearing burdens, and tilling the earth; and in every age 
his patient docility has been applied to these ends. The wealth of the first people was their flocks and herds : “ And Abram 
was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold; and he went on his journeys from the south over to Bethel, unto the place where 
his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto the place of the altar which he had made at the first; and there 
Abram called on the name of the Lord ; and Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.” And in 
the case of all the early nations of which we read, the Ox was amongst the valued possessions of the people. He was a medium 
of traffic, and his image came at length to be stamped upon the metals used as money. His flesh was usually permitted to be 
eaten, though, in certain cases, the use of it was limited, or altogether forbidden, as when he was employed in labour, or when his 
numbers were few, in the earlier stages of societies. The Hindoos were forbidden to shed his blood at all; the Egyptians were 
only permitted to do so at sacrifices; and other nations were compelled to equal abstinence. The Jews were suffered to partake 
of his flesh freely, on the condition simply that the firstling of the herd should be dedicated to the Lord, and that no part of the 
blood should be tasted; but the Jews were naturally abstemious in the use of animal food, and such of the calves as were not 
killed, were mostly brought up for the purposes of labour or the yielding of milk. 
History, sacred and profane, evince to us in what estimation this gift of Providence has been held in every age. The Bull 
became one of the signs of the Zodiac in the earliest period of nations. He formed an object of adoration to people of the East, as 
he yet does to their descendants after the lapse of an unknown period. The Egyptians made him the subject of a preposterous 
worship, as did the Lybians and other ancient nations, and he entered largely into the mythological systems of Greece and Rome. 
Independently, too, of religious feelings, a certain respect was manifested towards the Ox on account of the services he rendered. 
The precept of the Jewish law, u Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn,” was an observance founded 
on tenderness towards the animal, as well as an expression of thankfulness at this the crowning labour of the harvest. The rustic 
writers of the Romans, in their lessons on the treatment of the labouring Ox, show how much of real humanity entered into their 
feelings regarding this ancient and docile assistant of the husbandman. They direct that the length of the furrow shall not exceed 
120 paces, or else that the oxen shall have a time for breathing allowed them before they are urged to renewed efforts. The 
ploughman is required to shift the yoke, that their backs may not be galled,—to moisten their mouths with water, and to strengthen 
them with wine when they are suffering from fatigue. Even the safeguard of the laws was thrown around these humble servants 
of the farm. To destroy them wantonly was a capital crime. A Roman citizen, we are informed by Pliny, was condemned to 
exile, because he had killed his labouring ox to gratify the appetite of a capricious boy; and other examples are on record, to testify 
how greatly the useful services of the Ox were valued. The Celtic.nations of Europe seem to have possessed somewhat of the 
same sentiments, mixed with religious feelings. Even to our own day, certain superstitious remembrances are attached to the red 
cow, whose milk is believed to be a charm for certain ailments. 
