Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

THE LIPS. 185
proper head of this is received, and with -which it forms a joint.
The ridges at either end of this cavity are very low, to allow more
latitude of motion, and admit of the grinding action by which rumi-
nation is principally characterized. The muscle, being inserted so
near to the joint, acts with great mechanical disadvantage ; but it is
sufficiently powerful for every purpose that is required.
THE CHEEKS.
The outer walls of the mouth are the cheeks and lips. The cheeks
consist principally of muscle, (the masseter and the buccinator
muscles.) They are covered externally by the skin, and lined by
the membrane of the mouth. There is considerable glandular substance
in their composition, and these glands have distinct openings
into the mouth, and assist in supplying it with moisture.
THE LIPS.
The lips form the anterior opening of the mouth ; they close it,
and assist in gathering and retaining the food. They consist of muscular,
glandular, and cellular texture ; and of much, in the upper lip
especially, condensed substance almost resembling cartilage. The
muscles give them the power of motion, and particularly that of
forcibly seizing and compressing the food. This is especially necessary
in the ox, because there are no upper front teeth, and for this
purpose also the cartilaginous matter was added to them, and most
of all to the upper lip. Simple muscular substance would be too
yielding to retain the grass, when it is to be forcibly separated from
the stalk or root. On account of this peculiar function of the upper
lip of the ox, it is wide and fiat, in order that it may be brought
better into contact with herbage, and gather it in sufficient quantities.
Being so much employed for this purpose, there is a want of
feeling about the lips of cattle, very different from acute sensitiveness.
His muzzle is to be continually in contact with the ground, among
smooth and rough herbage—things pleasing and annoying ; and
therefore all acute feeling is withheld from him, and, consequently,
he is rarely, seen using his lips as substitutes for hands, and forming
his opinion of the objects around him by the indications which they
afford him.
The excess of glandular substance in the lips of the ox is easily
accounted for. They not only afford their share of the natural mois-
ture of the mouth, but are, from situation, form, and use, exposed to
various nuisances. Insects continually crawl about the muzzle, and
dirt and gravel accumulate on it. If the grass is to be firmly held
between the pad in the upper jaw and the teeth in the lower, and
the upper lip must materially assist in the firmness of the grip, jt