Hungarian Ox, Bos Taurus, from a specimen in the British Museum.
MR. SWAINSON'S TRANSCENDENTAL ATTEMPT AT CLASSIFICATION.
The following very laboured attempt to arrange the various species of Genus Bos into groups, according to the Quinary or Circular System of M'Leay, is from the pen of Mr. Swainson—the precise and fastidious Swainson—who, from the number and boldness of his hypothetical views in every department of Zoology, may be truly regarded as the beau-ideal of a speculative naturalist—one of those, in short, so well described by Swift, "whose chief art in division hath been to grow fond of some proper mystical number, which their imaginations have rendered sacred to a degree, that they force common reason to find room for it in every part of nature; reducing, including, and adjusting, every genus and species within that compass, by coupling some against their wills, and banishing others at any rate."
After describing the various members of the Bovine Family according to the Procrustean method of stretching and chopping, Mr. Swainson continues in his peculiarly dogmatic style "The types of form of the Genus Bos, above enumerated, we shall now demonstrate to be a natural group. We have seen that the first represented by the Bos Scoticus, or Scotch Wild Ox, is an untameable savage race, which preserves, even in the domestication of a park, all that fierceness which the ancient writers attributed to the Wild Bulls of Britain and of the European Continent. Let those who imagine that the influence of civilization, of care, and of judicious treatment, will alter the natural instincts of animals, look to this as a palpable refutation of their doctrine. Where is that boasted power of man over nature? Where the fruits of long-continued efforts and fostering protection? The Bos Scoticus is as untameable now as it was centuries ago, simply for this reason, that it is in accordance with an unalterable law of nature; a law by which one type in every circular group is to represent the worst passions of mankind—fierceness, or cruelty, or horror. In the Urus we consequently have the type of the wild and untameable Feræ among quadrupeds, the eagles among birds, and the innumerable analogies which all the subordinate groups of these two great divisions present. Following this is the typical Ox—a god among the ancients, and that animal above all others, which, from its vital importance to man, we should naturally expect such a nation as the ancient Egyptians would exalt above all others. It is, in short, the typical perfection of the whole order of Ruminants, and consequently represents the Quadrumana among quadrupeds, and the Incessores among birds. The third type is no less beautiful; but it cannot be illustrated without going into details which it is not our present intention to make public: suffice it, however, to say, that in the prominent hump upon the shoulders we have a perfect representation of the Camel, one of the most striking types of the order, while it reminds us at the same time of the Buffalo, the genus Acronatus among the large Antelopes, and numerous other representations of the same form. The fourth type is our Bos Pusio: here we find the horns, when present, remarkably small, but in many cases absent; and the size is diminutive to an extreme. These also are distinguishing marks of the groups it is to represent: the Tenuirostres among birds, and the Glires, or mice, among quadrupeds, are the smallest of their respective classes; and both are typically distinguished by wanting all appendages to the head, either in the form of crests or horns. The fifth type is, perhaps, the most extraordinary of all; it should represent not only the order Rasores among birds, but also the Camelopardalis among ruminating quadrupeds. Hence we find that, in accordance with the first of these analogies, it is a peaceful domesticated race, and that it has horns of an unusually large size, even in its own group; while, at the same time, those horns have that peculiar structure which can only be traced in the Camelopardalis; they are covered with skin, which passes so imperceptibly to the horny state, that, as Captain Clapperton observes, "there is no exact demarcation where the one commences and the other ends." The five leading types of quadrupeds and birds being now represented, and in precisely the same order, we demonstrate the groups to be natural by the following table:—
| Genus BOS—the Natural Types. | |||
| 1. Bos Scoticus. | Fierce, untameable. | Feræ. | Raptores. |
| 2. —— Taurus. | Pre-eminently typical. | Primates. | Incessores. |
| 3. —— Dermaceros. | Appendages on the head greatly developed | Ungulata. | Rasores. |
| 4. —— Pusio. | Stature remarkably small. | Glires. | Grallatores. |
| 5. —— Thersites. | Fore-part of the shoulders elevated | Cetacea. | Natatores. |
In regard to the last type, the analogies can only be traced through the animals or types of other groups; but should the habits of Thersites lead it to frequent the water (like the Buffaloes) more than any other species of true oxen—a supposition highly probable—the analogy to the Cetacea and the Natatores would be direct. When we find in all the other four types such a surprising representation of the same peculiarities, we are justified in believing that want of information alone prevents this analogy from being so complete as the others. These analogies, in point of fact, may be traced through the whole of the principal groups in this order, the most important, and the most numerous of ungulated animals." Our luminous classifier then triumphantly winds up:—"Having now demonstrated, in one of the very lowest groups of quadrupeds, the validity of those principles of natural classification we have so often illustrated," &c.
Let us not be confounded with high-sounding terms; let us rather endeavour to ascertain the meaning of them, if indeed they possess a meaning. Here we have, under the head of "Genus Bos—the Natural Types"—(see p. 178), certain words arranged in regular columns, which, at a first glance, appear as though they were intended to bear some relation to each other. But let us ask the most ordinary observer, or the most profound observer, or the observer of any grade or shade between these two extremes, what resemblance—what relation—what analogy—can be discovered between an ordinary bull (Taurus) and a man, a monkey, or a bat (Primates); or between Taurus and the Incessores (Perching Birds)? Or between Buffaloes, whose horns are partially covered with skin (Dermaceros), and cocks and hens (Rasores)? Can any one say wherein consists the similarity between a dwarf Zebu and a Mouse, or a Flamingo? Yet this is the material of which the columns are composed.
But one of the most unhappy of Mr. Swainson's speculations is that wherein he represents the Bos Scoticus, or wild ox, as the type of "an untameable savage race, which preserves, even in the domestication of a park, all that fierceness which the ancient writers attributed to the wild bulls of Britain and the European continent. Let those who imagine that the influence of civilization, of care, and of judicious treatment, will alter the natural instinct of animals, look to this as a palpable refutation of their doctrine. [!] Where is that boasted power of man over nature? Where the fruits of long-continued efforts and fostering protection? [!!] The Bos Scoticus is as untameable now as it was centuries ago, simply for this reason, that it is in accordance with an unalterable law of nature; a law by which one type in every group is to represent the worst passions of mankind—fierceness, or cruelty, or horror." [!!!]
Who would for a moment imagine that all this grandiloquence is bestowed upon an animal, which is so far from being fierce and untameable, that young ones, taken and reared with ordinary cattle, become, even in the first generation, as tame as domestic animals? [See account of Chillingham White Cattle, p. 140.]