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Again as the body, so far as regards its organs of motion,
consists of two distinct parts, the right and the left, so also and
for like reasons the horns of animals are, in the great majority of
cases, two in number. Still there are some that have but a single
horn; the Oryx, for instance, and the so-called Indian ass; in the
former of which the hoof is cloven, while in the latter it is solid.
In such animals the horn is set in the centre of the head; for as
the middle belongs equally to both extremes, this arrangement is the
one that comes nearest to each side having its own horn.
Again, it would appear consistent with reason that the single horn
should go with the solid rather than with the cloven hoof. For hoof,
whether solid or cloven, is of the same nature as horn; so that the
two naturally undergo division simultaneously and in the same animals.
Again, since the division of the cloven hoof depends on deficiency
of material, it is but rationally consistent, that nature, when she
gave an animal an excess of material for the hoofs, which thus
became solid, should have taken away something from the upper parts
and so made the animal to have but one horn. Rightly too did she act
when she chose the head whereon to set the horns; and AEsop's Momus is
beside the mark, when he finds fault with the bull for not having
its horns upon its shoulders. For from this position, says he, they
would have delivered their blow with the greatest force, whereas on
the head they occupy the weakest part of the whole body
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