[p. 215] habit of the body also occasions a certain
difference, for in those who are in a state of embonpoint and fleshy
the joint is rarely dislocated, but is more difficult to reduce; but
when they are more attenuated and leaner than usual, then they are
subject to dislocations which are more easily reduced. And the following
observation is a proof that matters are so; for in cattle the thighs
are most apt to be dislocated at the hip-joint, when they are most
particularly lean, which they are at the end of winter, at which time
then they are particularly subject to dislocations (if I may be allowed
to make such an observation while treating of a medical subject);
and therefore Homer has well remarked, that of all beasts oxen suffer
the most at that season, and especially those employed at the plow
as being worked in the winter season. In them, therefore, dislocations
happen most frequently, as being at that time most particularly reduced
in flesh. And other cattle can crop the grass when it is short, but
the ox cannot do so until it becomes long; for, in the others, the
projection of the lip is slender, and so is the upper lip, but in
the ox the projection of the lip is thick, and the upper jaw is thick
and obtuse, and therefore they are incapable of seizing short herbs.
But the solidungula as having prominent teeth in both their front
jaws, can crop the grass and grasp it with their teeth while short,
and delight more in short grass than in rank; for, in general, short
grass is better and more substantial than rank, as having not yet
given out its fructification. Wherefore the poet has the following
line:
"As when to horned cattle dear the vernal season comes,"It is certain that there is no such line in the works of Homer as they have come down to us, and it is singular that Galen takes no notice of it, so that it is impossible to explain how our author came to use it. |
because rank grass appears to be most sought after by them. But otherwise in the ox, this joint is slacker than in other animals, and, therefore, this
animal drags his foot in walking more than any other, and especially
when lank and old. For all these reasons the ox is most particularly
subject to dislocations; and I have made the more observations respecting
him, as they confirm
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