February, 1880.
THE WEST SHORE.
49
THE PROGENITOR OV OUll HORNED
STOCK.
An interesting book waa lately published in
. England, entitled "Tho History of the Wild
Whito Cattlo," written by Rev. J. Storer, of
which the Bpoeial purposo was to traco back tho
ancestry of ancient herds of white cattlo in
(Ireat Britain, of which thero are still remaining
bands which have boon kept freo from admixture
of other blood. With this special design of the
writer we havo nothing particular to do at this
time. It is rather from the fact that his re
Bearchos led him to a race of cattle, tho blood
of which probably was a factor in the establish
ment of our best known domestic breeds, that
we give his conclusions and a drawing which
presents the outlines of tho original type as
nearly as they can bo portrayed.
Mr. Storer believes that tho lion Uru was
first introduced into Europe during tho Pleisto
cene age, which includes tho Drift opoch and
cave depotita and bones, which aro a part of
low parts of many Swiss lakes, thero aro those
of tho wild bull." It is also " boyoud question
that towards the close of the stone and liegiit
ning of the bronxe poriod tho lake dwellora hail
succeeded in taming that formidable bruto the
lion primujtnim, tho Urui of Ciraar." "In a
tame state its bones were somewhat leas massive
and heavv. and its horns somewhat nmaller than
in wilil individuals. .Still, m its domesticated
form it rivaled in dimensions tho largest living
cattlo, those of Krioaland in North Holland for
uxamplo. When moat abundant it had nearly
superseded the smaller race." (Tho above
quotations aro all taken from Sir C. I.yoll'a
"Antiquities of Man," fourth edition, 1878,
chap. tC whoro will ho found fuller informa
tion on this interesting subject. ) Readers will
not fail to observe the apcedy change which in
some respects was produced in the wild bull by
domestication.
When wo advance farther, and come to his
toric timos, wo lind frequent notices of tho
Urui, or wild bull. Herodotus, writing 401)
y aia it, ('., tells ua that when the army of
Xerxes was passing through a part of I' i.
piro, the Urua still held his ground, though in
decreasing mituhora, aa a wild animal on the
Continent of Europe, The martyr Sattirntnua
was attached to the liorna of a wild hull, and
dragged to death at Toulouse, on the spot,
whore afterward one of the most aneient
churches of (lanl waa built, named ih Y'unr.
It is said that the Spanish bull lights took their
nso Irom the chase ot tins animal in Hie t'yre
noes. Tho I urn is also montioned as existing
in the Ynagea mountains, ami in the Ardennes;
and it waa hunted by Charles the (Ireat, near
Aachen. Still through the mediieval period the
Hit Unit lived, but within much oirciimaerilied
limita, principally in Poland, Lithuania and
Muacovy, whoso writers apeak of it, tdl, in the
l. 'ill or Itlth eontiiry, llio wild bull became
linally extinct iu Continental Europe,
A Ivkmkuv Makinii BnaMOUB I'NM'fi
x.Miv. Dr. W. Cheatham writes to the LmI
villo .V !: Nrm, that he has found that the
uso of the sulphate of eaeriu makes it iiiineccs-
aary to use apeetaoloa in case their use la called
OF THE ANCIENT WILD BULL Off
IDEAL SKETCH
tho pot-tortiary of tho geologist. It was every
where abundant as a wild animal, troth on the
continent and in tho British Isles, and in later,
though prehistoric timos, atill existed iu both,
aa its fosail remains everywhere testify, though
perhaps more aparingly in Britain. On the con
tinent the Urus was well known during the
historic era. Everywhere through what may bo
called Central Europe wo lind this gigantic ox
wild. Mount Hanoi, the Carpathian! running
through tho middle of Europe, and the Hyrca
uian forest!, continuing from them almoat
through Germany, and connecting them with
other mountain rangei, werehia favorite haunts;
from Soythia, Sarmatia, and tho Black ua to
Denmark and the shores of the Northern ocean
everywhere we lind him. Uuring me tawr .
atone age, in the shell mounds or IcjokhrnniMiwj
(kitchon-middens), oomiiting of immense heaps
of refuse ibells, thrown up on the shores of
nearly all the Daniih iilandi by the Danish
aborigine!, "the remaiui of the wild bull (lint ,
Urui Linn. ; Hot primigmiut, Uojanui) are
land in mch numlreri as to prove that
the iptciei waa a favorite food of that
ancient people." "Prof. Kutimeyor, of Baale,
baa shown that among the remain! of wild i
animals dredged up from the IMW
Swia lake dwelling!, built ou pile" m the ahal-1
EUROPE Boi Urua.
and Eitonica, which lay between Southern
Thrace and Macedonia, anil iudeed formed part
of the latter, the country abounded with wild
bulla, which muat have been animals of great
rower, for the same country waa infested by
liona ao ferocious that they attacked at night
the eamela carrying the prnviaiona of tho army.
The exiitenoe of those wild bulla ia continued
by Hippocrates, a writer who shortly followed
and subsequently, Philip of Macedou is aaid to
have limited and destroyed oil MoUUtOrbela, in
ooiiaequeuce of its devastations, a Ireaet of this
description, ami to have hung up its bhiiIs in
the vestibule of the temnle of lUrculea. During
the time of the Roman Empire, which extended
itself to the harbarotia regions north of Italy
and (ireece, the native country of thu Urui on
the Continent, thii animal waa well known,
and is mentioned by various latin writers, too
numerous to quote. Pliny saya : "(iormany,
conterminous with Scythia, produces two kinds
of wild oatlle one, the Bison, distinguished by
his namo; the other, of excessive strength and
awiftness, tho Urua, to which the ignorant vul
gar gives the name of Buhalua f and he aayi
that "both of these animals were carried to
Home and viewed by the people in the cirous."
In the troubled ages which accompanied and
followed tbi decline and fall of the Roman Km-
for by a llaltening of the cornea from old age
a very common ailment, called presbyopia. He
states that thii drug possesses the property of
acting especially ou the ciliary muicle, and con
tracting It, which contraction increases the con
vexity of the cornea. He reeoinmeiida dissolv
ing one gram of the sulphate of eieriu in oue
ounce of water, and putting one drop iu each
eye at bed-time. It produces at llrat tho opio.
site defect a too great convexity of the cornea,
which is called myopia, or near-iightediiese,
which, however, sonu passes away. He thinks
the use of this remedy perfectly aafe, and also
adapted to caaee of glaucoma and other in II am
mations of the eye, in cases of weakness reeult
ing from overwork, general debility, diphtheria,
etc. He saya that notwithstanding the use of
aiM-ctaulea in case of presbyopia gives comfort to
the eyesight, there ia alio, however, always
some trouble connected with them, which pa
tients are often aniioui to diapenae with, and
thinks they ahould he humored in this resiect.
While this may bo very true, we advise ctatlon
iu using this new lemedy, because, as the effects
are only temporary, a continuous ua is of course
intended, ami experience has not vet ehown
what secondary elfecU may reeult from often
repeated applications.