Syst. Nat Gmelin. 175. D 1. Vertebrata. Cl. 1. Mammalia. Ord.7. Ruminantia, Cuvier. G. 29. Horns solid; when tender covered with a velvety coat, and growing at the apex; shed annually; forked. Fore teeth eight in the lower jaw. Tearing-teeth none (sometimes solitary in the upper jaw). Species 1. C. Elaphus.1 The Stag, or Hart. Johnst. Quadr. 82.

t. 32. 35. Officinal. Cornu, Lond. Cervi Elaphi cornu, Edin. Cornua

Cervina; Ramenta, Dub. Harts' horns.

Syn. Corn de Cerf (F.), Hirschorn (G.), Hertshoorn (Dutch), Hjorthorn (Swed.), Corno di Cervo (I.), Cuerno de Ciervo (S), Corne de Veado (Port.).

The stag, of which there are three known varieties, is a native of almost every part of Europe, and of the northern parts of America and Asia. In Britain its numbers have been much reduced by the progress of civilisation; but it is still found wild in the highlands of Scotland, the moors bordering on Devonshire and Cornwall, and on the Kerry mountains in Ireland. It is a very beautiful animal, about three feet and a half in height, of a rust-brown colour on the upper part of the body, and whitish below. The horns are annually shed, about the end of February and March; but are soon reproduced in a soft, tender state, full of blood-vessels, and covered with a velvety skin which is lost as they increase in size; and at length, about the month of July, they become hard, compact, and bony. They have no horns till they are above a year old, and these do not branch till the third year; after which the branches increase in number every year, so that the age of the animal may in some degree be determined by them.2

These horns differ from those of most other animals, and approach nearer to the nature of bone, containing only less of the phosphate of lime in their composition, and yielding a much larger proportion of gelatine. It is for the sake of the gelatine that their shavings are medicinally used. These are often adulterated with shavings of mutton bones, which, however, are easily detected by their greater degree of brittleness.

Qualities.-Hartshorn shavings when good are inodorous and insipid, pliant, of an ivory-yellow colour; and contain 27 parts of gelatine in 100 parts.3 Four ounces of the shavings boiled in two pints of water until one pint be dissipated, and the remainder strained, afford, when the decoction cools, a clear, transparent, colourless, insipid, inodorous jelly, which is a compound of gelatine and water.

1 Eλaφos. Aristot. Hist. Animal, ii. c. 7. 18.

2 The castrated deer is said never to get horns at any period of its life, yet I have the horns of one presented to me by my friend Sir Francis Shuckburgh, Bart., which was reared in his own park; of course he knows its history.

3 Annates de Chimie, xxxiv. 71.

Medical properties and uses.-The gelatine yielded by stags' horns is considered as a demulcent; but its nutrient properties are more useful than its medicinal virtues. It forms a good article of diet for the sick and convalescent, when it is united with orange juice, sugar, and a little wine; and when mixed with an equal portion of cow's milk, it is very useful in the irritations of infants arising from acidities in the primae viae.

Officinal preparations.- Cornu ustum, L. D. Pulvis Antimonii compositus, L. Pulvis Antimonialis, E. D.