Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

150 CATTLE.
horn, and from this cause—the exposure of the lining, membrane of
the cells of the head to the unaccustomed stimulus of the air.
COMPOSITION AND GROWTH OF THE HORNY COVERING.
The horn is exceedingly thin at its base, and appears as a continuation
of the cuticle ; dissection cannot trace any separation be-*
tween them ; but maceration has proved that the cuticle and the
covering of the bone of the horn are two distinct substances. In the
ox, from a prolongation of the cuticle proceeds the covering of the
bone of the horn, or at least the basis of it. The rings at the base
of the horn,- and which gradually recede from the base, prove this :
but the horn thickens as it grows out, and this thickening, and the
greater portion of the horn, are derived from the vascular substance
that surrounds the bone, and which is fed by the innumerable ves-
sels, that are interposed between it and the horn.
I
RINGS OF THE HORN.
These rings have been considered as a criterion by which to determine
the age of the ox. At three years old, the first distinct one
is usually observed : at four years old two are seen ; and so on, one
being added on each succeeding year. Hence the rule, that if two
be added to
given.
the number of rings, the age of the animal would be
These rings, however, are perfectly distinct in the cow only ; in
the ox they do not appear until he is five years old, and are ofter
confused : in the bull they are either not seen until five, or cannot
be traced at all. They are not always distinct in the cow ; the two
or three first may be, but then come mere irregularities of surface^
that can scarcely be said to be rings, and which it is impossible to
count. If a heifer goes to bull when she is about two years old,
there is an immediate change in the horn, and the first ring appears
so that a real three-year-old would carry the mark of a four-year-
old. After the beast is six or seven years old, these rings are so
irregular that the age indicated by the two horns is not always the
same. A difference of one year is seen, and in some instances the
horns do not agree by two years at least. As a process of nature,
it is far too irregular for any certain dependence.
THE DEGREE OF FEVER ESTIMATED BY THE HORN.
The farrier and the cow leech, when examining a sick beast, feel
the root of the horn and the tip of the ear. There is much good
sense about this. If the temperature is natural in both, there is no
great degree of fever ; but if the ears are deathy cold, it shows that
the. blood is no longer circulating through the small vessels, but congesting
round some important organ, the seat of inflammation—and
;