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The benefits of quadrupeds to man are too obvi- 
ous to require more than the bare enumeration of 
the names of the most useful. With the ancient 
Egyptians and Brahmins, I do not hesitate to give 
the first honour to the cow. ‘“ Le boeuf, le mouton, 
et les autres animaux qui paissent l’herbe non-seule- 
ment sont les meilleures, les plus utiles, les plus pré- 
cieux pour Phomme, puisquils le nourissent, mais 
sont encore ceux qui consomment et dépensent le 
moins: le boeuf surtout est a cet égard lanimal par 
excellence, car il rend a la terre tout autant qu'il en 
tire,” &c. (Buffon.) The quantity of hides im- 
ported into England forms the most bulky, and 
nearly the most valuable article of our commerce. 
A volume might be filled with an account of the 
different preparations of tanned ox-hides and dressed 
calves’ skins, in the form of soft leather or of vel- 
lum; on the preparation of glue from the parings; 
on the various manufactures of horn and of bone; 
on the uses of the blood in our sugar manufactures, 
&c.: but the benefit from this race of animals in 
supplying us with milk, butter and cheese, and beef 
and tallow, is varied and extensive beyond all pos- 
sibility of calculation. ‘The labour of the ox is in 
many cases equal or preferable to that of the horse. 
Next in value to the bull or cow kind is the sheep. 
Although this race affords no aid to human labour, 
yet the quantity of industry which is promoted, and 
the quantity of comfort which is diffused. by its 
fleece, has rendered it one of the most early and 
most highly valued of human possessions. 
