Thus a young cock will spar at his adversary before his
spurs are grown; and a calf or a lamb will push with their heads
before their horns are sprouted. In the same manner did these
young adders attempt to bite before their fangs were in being. The
dam however was furnished with very formidable ones, which we
lifted up (for they fold down when not used) and cut them off with
the point of our scissors.
There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever been in
the open air before; and that they were taken in for refuge, at the
mouth of the dam, when she perceived that danger was
approaching; because then probably we should have found them
somewhere in the neck, and not in the abdomen.
Letter XXXII
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Castration has a strange effect: it emasculates both man, beast, and
bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus
eunuchs have smooth unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad
hips, and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt-stags and
bucks have hornless heads, like hinds and does.
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