Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy : inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc. / by John Hunter ... ; with notes by Richard Owen.
- John Hunter
- Date:
- 1840
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy : inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc. / by John Hunter ... ; with notes by Richard Owen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![However, it seems that this is not universal, for I was lately informed by Charles Palmer, Esq., of Luckley in Berkshire, that a free-martin having been killed in his neighbourhood, from the general idea of its being better meat than common, every neigh- bour bespoke a piece, which turned out nearly as bad as bull-beef; worse, at least, than that of a cow. It is probable that circum- stance might arise from this animal having more the properties of a bull than the cow, as we shall see hereafter that they are some- times more the one than the other.* Although what I have advanced with respect to the production of free-martins be in general true, yet, by the assistance of Benja- min Way, Esq., of Denham, near Uxbridge, who knew my anxiety to ascertain this point, I was lately furnished with an instance which proves that it does not invariably hold good. One of his cows having produced twins, which were to appear- ance male and female, upon a supposition that the cow-calf was a free-martin, he obligingly offered either to give it me, or to keep it till it grew up, that we might determine the fact: as I conceived it to be a free-martin, and was to have the liberty of examining it after death, I desired that he would keep it; but, unfortunately, it died at about a month old. Upon examining the organs of generation, they appeared to be those of the female, and perfectly formed ; but to make this more certain, I procured those of a common cow-calf, and comparing them together, found them exactly alike. This made us regret that the animal had not lived to an age that might have determined if it was capable of breeding; for the construction of the parts being to appearance perfect, is not sufficient of itself to stamp it a true or perfect female: as I can suppose that the parts being perfectly formed, but without the power of propagation, may constitute the most simple kind of hermaphrodite. It is, however, most probable that this was a perfect female, which is an excep- tion to the common rule; and I have been informed there are instances of such twins breeding.-]- If there are such deviations, as of twins being perfect male and female, why should there not be, on the other hand, an hermaphrodite produced singly, as in other animals 1 I had the examination of one which seemed, upon the * The Romans called the bull, taurus; they, however, talked of taurae in the feminine gender. And Stephen observes, that it was thought the Romans meant by taurae, barren cows, and called them by this name because they did not con- ceive. He also quotes a passage from Columella, lib. vi. cap. 22, and like the turae, which occupy the place of fertile cows, should be rejected, or sent away. He likewise quotes Varro, De Re Rustica, lib. ii. cap. 5, The cow which is barren is called taura. From which we may reasonably conjecture that the Romans had not the idea of the circumstances of their production. f [An instance of this nature is recorded in the fifth volume of Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, p. 765. Jos. Holroyd, Esq., of Withers, near Leeds, had a cow which calved twins, a bull-calf and a cow-calf. As popular opinion was against the cow-calf breeding, it had been considered a free-martin Mr. Holroyd was determined to make an experiment of them, and reared them together. They copulated, and in due time the heifer brought forth a bull-calf and she regularly had calves for six or seven years afterwards.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131545_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
