Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

CHAPTER I.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OX.
The Ox belongs J;o the class mammalia, animals having mammae,
or teats ; the oudeu ruminantia, ruminating, or chewing their food
a second time-; the tribe bovidce, the ox kind ; the genus bos, the
ox, the horns occupying the crest, projecting at first sideways, and
being porous or cellular within ; and the sub-genus bos tau^us, or
the domestic ox.
Distinguished according to their teeth, they have eight incisors, or
cutting teeth, in the lower jaw, and none in the upper. They have
no tusks, but they have six molars, or grinding teeth, in each jaw^
and on each side.
The whole would, therefore, be represented as follows :
The ox, incisors f, canines %, molars $-£. Total, 32 teeth.
The native country of the ox, reckoning from the time of the flood,
was the plains of Ararat, and he was a domesticated animal when he
issued from the ark. He was found wherever the sons of"Noah
migrated, for he was necessary to the existence of man ; and even to
the present day, wherever man has trodden, he is found in a domesticated
or wild state. The earliest record we have of the ox is in the
sacred volume. Even in the antediluvian age, soon after the expul-
sion from Eden, the sheep had become the servant of man ; and it
is not improbable that the ox was subjugated at the same time. It
is recorded that Jubal, the son of Lamech, who was probably born
during the life-time of Adam, was the father of such as have cattle.
The records of profane history confirm this account of the early
domestication and acknowledged value of this animal, for it was worshipped
by the Egyptians, and venerated 'among the- Indians. The
traditions of every Celtic 'nation enroll the cow among the earliest
productions, and represent it as a kind of divinity.
?
1 *
—