CHAPTER I.. The Body of the Horse Anatomically Considered.

THE BODY OF THE HORSE ANATOMICALLY CONSIDERED.

Were the equine race extinct, nevertheless an anatomist, by studying its bones, might affirm its instincts and assert its uses. Every part declares it to be a creature of speed; while its large cranium and beautifully-arranged teeth would announce it to have once been connected with civilization by its intelligence, by its uses, and its herbivorous habit. The provision made for the united strength and elasticity of the spine would indicate the care nature had bestowed upon the comfort of a rider; while the mode in which the members were joined to the body, with the reach of limb peculiar to the skeleton, would equally announce that grace and that ease which had characterized the lost animal’s movements.

What lamentation would be poured forth over the absence of such a treasure! How would poignant regrets be awakened, as science demonstrated what once were the endowments of an extinct inhabitant of earth! Yet, at the present time, humanity possesses this priceless creature to lighten toil and heighten pleasure. But, how few of mankind have ever reflected upon the marvelous delicacy of the slave’s construction! It is lashed unto exhaustion and worked into deformity. Because of the treatment it experiences at the hands of the master, whom it serves, it generally ceases to exist before its body is matured; but short as its life may be, existence is to it only one continued misery!

Even mortal instruments, things of the world’s manufacture, are limited in their applications, and capable of being deranged. A spring carriage is, obviously, not a suitable conveyance for a load of paving stones. He would be esteemed mad, who should appropriate such a vehicle to so gross a purpose. The horse’s body is more delicately arranged and more nicely balanced than the perfection of human skill can hope to imitate; nevertheless, people expose themselves to no rebuke when they wrench, cripple, or destroy the beauty which is intrusted to their authority.

Yet, the thing constructed by human hands, if injured, can be repaired, and may be thus rendered again equal to its uses. A living animal, however, being damaged, is not, on this earth, to be restored to its integrity. That has been, and is lost! Mortal science may relieve the wound, but the scar remains, to conjure up thoughts of that deeper seated derangement, which is beyond the reach of this world’s medicine. The body may partially recover and the life may be prolonged; but deformity, accompanied by a proportionate loss of function, will testify to the folly that deteriorated the perfection which was given as a helpmate.

Those forms of agony, which a few years ago were more common in England than such are even at the present time, evidently declared that the horse was altogether unequal to increasing wants and growing desires of mankind. Neither the fleetness of the courser nor the strength of the heavier breed embodied the requirements of the age. Something faster and more powerful had become a public necessity; therefore railroads were permitted.

Such persons as can talk of railroads being destined to destroy the breed of horses, must suffer under a confusion of ideas. The breed of horses may be endangered, as this is being written; but the source of peril lies very far removed from the lines of tramway. The objects, capable of being fulfilled by breathing flesh and by steaming iron, are altogether separate and distinct. No living body can aspire to contend, in strength or in speed, with the results of mechanical contrivance. Neither can the forge or the furnace ever hope to produce any combination of springs and wheels which can compare with the ease of motion, the docility of temper, or the intelligence of spirit that should recommend the quadruped to the kindness of its earthly proprietor.

The horse is the associate of man. It is true, the poor animal can be goaded to excessive labor; but the creature becomes degraded when it toils beyond the sphere of mortal sympathy. No living animal should be subjected to the exactions of avarice. Life was not made to be thus debased. What, however, the horse, when properly treated, is capable of performing, remains to be hereafter demonstrated. How much it can enact, and how greatly it can benefit, when justly treated, the present customs refuse the willing drudge a chance of proving. No steed is now permitted to grow till its thews and muscles are matured. Before the season of its utility can come round, the colt is seized upon by the impatience of gain, and the baby limbs are distorted by that early affliction which forbids the natural powers to be developed.

We can, however, even by the inspection of the body, discover that it is admirably adapted for continuous and prolonged exertion. The maintenance of animal motion chiefly depends on the provision made for aerating the blood. In proportion as the vital current can be revivified or oxygenated is health promoted by those efforts, which in most bodies would, assuredly, induce congestion and death. Age becomes very important when the subject is thus considered. Respiration is in youth quicker than during adultism, because there is so much more oxygen needed when the frame is in a growing state. By working the horse before maturity is attained, the animal is obliged to labor when the ordinary velocity of the respiration permits of the less marginal speed for the breathing apparatus to exert upon extraordinary occasions. Nevertheless, that the reader may judge correctly of the care nature had bestowed upon the formation of a creature destined for subserviency to man, the following engraving is appended.

The accompanying illustration exhibits the lungs as of large proportional dimensions; while the stomach will be recognized as of more than an equally diminished capacity. Everybody must have experienced how greatly respiration is impeded by a loaded digestion; and the Common Benefactor, when creating an animal destined to display speed, seems to have anticipated the probability of such a contingency. The intestines, however, are comparatively of large extent. Into these receptacles the horse’s food passes, after having perfected the first process of digestion, and there it is subsequently mixed with the fluid secretion of the bowels, whereby the nutritive matter is separated and rendered fit for absorption.

1. The lungs. 2. The stomach. 3. The colon. 4. The diaphragm. 5. The situation of the bladder. ]

The smallness of the horse’s stomach is in itself sufficient evidence that the quadruped was designed to be a frequent feeder. It was not intended to endure prolonged abstinence; for almost in every region which the animal may canter over, its legitimate food abounds. Man, however, frequently starves the creature, that a loaded stomach may not interfere with the activity of the respiration; he, in his ignorance and in his presumption, not being willing to trust to such provision as the All-wise had made, anticipatory of this accident. At other times, the quadruped is suffered to over-gorge, its keeper paying no regard to its requirements. After an excessive fast, a quantity of cut food is placed in the manger, and the ravenous horse eats, and eats, till its small stomach, being unequal to the reception of much bolted provender, cracks its walls from excessive repletion. Such a circumstance does not demonstrate that nature was wrong, or that the equine races were formed unequal to their purposes; but it satisfactorily establishes that man cannot, with impunity, cross the designs or run counter to the institutions of Omnipotence.

The horse was created to live off the grass of the field. This habit necessitated that much ground should be traveled before the appetite of so large a body could be appeased; and the distance was the greater as the animal was sent upon the earth a nice feeder--biting oft the juicy tops of the herbage, not tearing up roots and all, like the less scrupulous bovine tribe. The time was also lengthened, by the equine race not being gifted with a power to ruminate. The ox, having filled the mouth, bestows little care upon the comminution of the food; but the jaw being moved twice or thrice, thereby crushing the herbage, so as to form it into a pellet, the mouthful is forwarded at once to the rumen. This receptacle is large, and is somewhat hastily filled. Then the ox retires to a quiet spot and there enjoys its meal; the grass being regurgitated and fully masticated, during which time the animal is said to be “chewing the cud.” The horse has no such power. The food it gathers must be prepared by mastication and insalivation before it enters the stomach; consequently, because of the niceness of its appetite, and the absolute necessity for each mouthful being separately comminuted, the horse, in a free state, has to journey far and to feed long before it can lie down and rest.

The equine race were meant to collect their sustenance from the surface of the earth; and, doubtless, the tribe are most at ease when feeding with the head lowered to the necessary position. A dog naturally lowers the mouth when it laps a fluid; but, if this creature be tempted to drink from a saucer held on a level with the ordinary elevation of the head, repeated coughing will interrupt the draught and testify to the inconvenience experienced by the animal. So, in the instance of the horse, we may infer the meal is most relished when the head sinks to its gratification; and, to justify such an inference, anatomy discloses a special provision made to that end. Such a proof is, to the author’s mind, of much more weight than any assertion to the contrary of the united British public, as emphasized by the fixed altitude of all the mangers throughout the three kingdoms.

A serious suggestion here forces itself upon the mind of the writer; and it is one the importance of which should recommend it to the consideration of the public. Laryngeal affections are among the most frequent annoyances of every stable, and stand foremost among the most vexatious of the many evils which the veterinary surgeon is expected to eradicate.

However, it is proved that if sustenance be swallowed with the head at a certain elevation, it must interfere with the most irritable organ entering into the composition of the entire body. Then, horse proprietors would do well to reflect upon the fact, and to say, how far constantly-repeated provocation may aggravate or induce the fearful laryngeal maladies to which domesticated horses are peculiarly liable.

The valves existing in the jugular veins are formed by duplicatures of its internal lining membrane; and they are so arranged as to prevent the natural tendency to regurgitate when the fluid within the vessel moves against gravity. When the head is erect, and the venous current, flowing toward the heart, is of course downward or is favored by gravity, then the valves do not act; but the passage of the blood forces the duplicatures of membrane to remain close against the sides of the tube.

The jugulars conduct the dark-colored blood from the brain; and as that important organ cannot endure the smallest pressure, some special provision was imperative to carry away the fluid, and also to anticipate the possibility of its return to oppress the sensorium. When the horse is grazing, the head is lower than the heart, and it naturally occupies that position for the greater portion of the twenty-four hours. During all that time the venous current must mount against the influence of gravitation; and to aid the reader in properly understanding the means by which this is effected, his attention is invited to the following diagrams.

The elevated crest, therefore, presents a clear channel to the vital current. For that reason, the violent action or the most rapid pace of the animal never produces congestion of its brain. The racer may sink from exhaustion, but does not perish from apoplexy. The head, when depressed, however, shows the same canal divided by numerous intersecting marks. Such lines are intended to represent the venous valves, which assist the blood in its upward journey, and render impossible the slightest pressure upon the sensorium. The first thing which strikes the reader, upon beholding the arrangement depicted above, is the vast number of valves; and this causes him to inquire, where was the necessity for such repeated checks. If the conservation of the brain was the only end to be attained, might not that object have been assured by a single set of valves? Such may seem a feasible objection; but to prevent the return current was, as nature appears to have conceived, best done by repeated assistance of the onward flow; consequently, these numerous valves anticipate the possibility of regurgitation in any degree, and provide repeated checks to pressure from the supported column of heavy venous blood.

There remains, however, another provision to be explained. The return current has hitherto been spoken of, as though the upward flow of fluid was its natural tendency. Still, every person must have perceived the necessity, when liquid was to be propelled in that direction, of something resembling a forcing pump. Such an apparatus nature has provided. The head of a healthy animal is depressed only when eating or when drinking. During the performance of either function, muscles are contracting which compress the soft coats of the veins, and thus help to drive the circulation against gravity.

Thus, during feeding, the head is maintained in a depressed attitude for hours together; and, throughout that space, a most powerful agent is in operation. The lower jaw, while the quadruped chances to be thus engaged, is in constant motion, being opened and closed either in biting or in chewing. When the jaw sinks, the muscles of mastication are relaxed, and the venous blood rushes from the cranium into the sinuses. But when the bone is raised by those strong motor agents which render the bite of a horse so fearful an infliction, the current from the brain is for a moment checked, and the contents of the maxillary sinuses are energetically propelled up the jugulars. During the first half of the action, the valves are in operation, having all the strength necessary for the perfect performance of their allotted function; but, during the latter part, they are forced against the sides of the vessels by the contractive masticatory influence, and cease to act in any way upon the internal current of the blood.

Notwithstanding the strong conviction emphatically asserted by the fixed position of the nation’s mangers, the author must be obstinate enough to disregard human authority, when he has an opportunity of studying the living book, written by the unerring hand of nature. Valves, though generally present in veins, are never discovered where the position of the vessel or other reason would render such provisions unnecessary. The Great Creator often makes one thing to serve more than one use; but never creates when His work can answer no profitable purpose.

The use of veins is simply that of conduits, to convey the refuse blood back to the heart, whence it is forced into the lungs, and there revivified or rendered equal to its many forms of nutrition. This mighty change is very simply effected. When the thorax expands, air merely enters the lungs to anticipate the vacuum, which otherwise must be occasioned by the enlargement of the chest. The air consists chiefly of two substances in a gaseous state--of oxygen and of nitrogen. The venous blood, being very near to the inhaled air within the lungs, extracts the oxygen from it, and in exchange sends forth a quantity of carbonic acid, which is voided with the expired breath.

1. The nostril leading direct to-- 2. The larynx, situated at the commencement of the windpipe. 3. The tongue. 4. The œsophagus or gullet. 5. The soft palate, which lies upon the tongue and affords a resting-place whereon reposes the epiglottis, or the guardian cartilage to the entrance of the larynx (2). 6. The guttural pouches, or large membranous and open sacs, containing nothing but atmospheric air. 7. Nasal or frontal sinuses. ]

This change will take place when blood is extracted from the body. If the contents of some vein are exposed to the atmosphere, they will in time change from a deep modena to a bright scarlet hue. There is, however, this difference which marks the two processes. The alteration, when quickened by vitality, is instantaneous; but the change, when it ensues under human inspection, is slowly, and, as it were, laboriously accomplished. The size of the equine nostrils informs us of the ample draughts of air which the animal is fitted to appropriate; it likewise testifies to the high state of that vitality which could necessitate such a provision. Creatures with small nostrils, for instance ox and dog, are endowed with a limited capacity as respects nasal respiration. Yet, as a recompense, such creatures are formed to inhale through the mouth. The horse, however, requires no such faculty, its nostrils are ample; and, under ordinary circumstances, the mouth is closed by a thick, fleshy screen, which hangs pendulous from the most backward portion of the bony palate.

In the previous diagram, figure 1 indicates the space allotted to the nasal chamber, near the external opening to which will be observed the numeral 8. The dotted lines surrounding the last figure represent the dimensions of a blind pouch, or cul-de-sac, which separates the external from the internal wall of the true nostril. The existence of such a provision has long been a puzzle to physiologists; but, would these gentlemen have given nature full credit for that care with which the Common Parent studies to preserve the beauty of the higher order of His children, and have considered that the horse’s necessity for different quantities of air varies with different times and during different occupations, they might have sooner comprehended the utility of the development.

1. The septum nasi. 2. The nasal chambers. 3. The upper lip. 4. The false nostrils. ]

Where the false nostril is placed is the only portion of the nasal chamber which is not inclosed by bone; consequently it is situated at the only place where the cavity admits of distention and of contraction. The animal, in a passive state, breathes very leisurely; at such times the nostrils would sink inward, or be deformed by the unavoidable collapse of the wall, were not the false nostril present to permit its diminution without materially affecting the external form. But subsequent to severe exertion, everybody must have remarked the nostril spasmodically strain, as though each effort would crack the boundaries of the opening. At such times the false nostril offers no stubborn opposition to the violence of respiration, while it serves to soften down the aspect, which, if laid bare, might show too fearfully.

A varied capacity for admitting air also presupposes a varied capacity to alter the dimensions of the passages through which the atmosphere travels to the lungs. If the reader will again refer to the facial diagram, he will perceive a free space, in the center of which is placed the figure 6. These spaces (one on either side of the face) represent what are termed the guttural pouches, they being merely bladders containing air, and communicating separately with each nasal chamber. A bladder with an external opening is of course most readily compressible. That no doubt may be entertained of the use for which these vacant spaces were established, they are placed immediately above the course of the atmosphere to the lungs, and would contract or dilate according to its volume.

Such a condition of parts imagines the windpipe also able to alter its dimensions, so that it may be in accord with other structures; and anatomy discloses facts which amply support such a supposition. The larynx or opening to the windpipe is composed of several pieces of cartilage and of numerous muscles. The presence of the first plastic and highly elastic structure is a proof that the larynx is of no fixed shape, while the division of the organ into distinct parts, together with the internal and external presence of many muscles of motion, is absolute confirmation that the larynx was created not only to assume various forms, but also to exhibit different capacities, according to the requirements of the animal economy.

So also with the windpipe itself, and the tubes which proceed from it; these are formed of distinct rings, or of separate pieces of elastic cartilage so curved as to form rings, but having free overlapping ends, which are operated upon by muscular fiber.

The diagram inserted below accurately represents such a ring; it also shows that the springy cartilage is not made of one thickness throughout, but is of that form which the mechanic of the present time recognizes as that best adapted for the preservation of continued elasticity. The shape and the free ends convinces that such a ring must always have a tendency to expand, and by this perception we recognize the purpose of the muscle, which draws the extremities over each other; thus two opposing forces regulate the capacity of the circle.

a One of the cartilages from the trachea of a horse, having free and overlapping extremities.

b The muscular fiber situated within the ring, which regulates the diameter of the circle.]

The presence of muscular fiber is always absolute proof of motion. Where muscle exists and morbid circumstances render motion an impossibility, the function being destroyed, the motor organ becomes pallid, or suffers atrophy. The existence, therefore, of such a structure in a healthy condition is always sufficient proof that the function of expansion and of contraction was present during life; thus we reach an absolute certainty that the air-passages of the horse possess a property of adapting themselves to the necessities of the animal.

Then, looking at these structures, we find them not only free, but so composed as to be always open, excepting when the momentary swallowing of the food causes the larynx to close. To breathe is the primary necessity of life. Health cannot be maintained unless the blood is sufficiently oxygenated; this fact makes us doubt the national wisdom, which persists in thrusting the quadruped into stables, rendered close and hot by the products of impurity. Oxygen is always deficient where impurity prevails; and, having seen the necessity of its presence, because it is the primary requirement of existence, and not because of the warmth or oppression which its absence generates, does the author presume to oppose his opinion to the decision apparently approved by the entire British public.

Seeing these provisions made by nature to preserve the beauty of her most graceful quadruped, and remarking how profusely, in various forms, loveliness is distributed throughout this earth, we cannot slightingly esteem the attribute which Perfect Knowledge has impressed, as an order of merit, upon its creations. Beauty is here spoken of as distinct from gaudiness. The term is employed not to represent the luster of the beetle or the vividness of the tropical bird, but to portray that harmony of parts and deep-seated perfection which is present only in the more elaborate works of the Creator, and which renders the horse, even when deprived of its skin, a picture deserving mortal adoration. Viewing the world and its inhabitants, we must confess that nothing was formed without its uses; on such a basis, we may safely assert that the horse was not made the most beautiful of beasts without intention. This quality appeals in a most mysterious and powerful manner to the human sympathies. It should influence the mind even more than it gratifies the eye, and though avarice may blind humanity to its claims, yet even the most hardened cannot witness the destruction of perfection without a poignant pang of regret.

In the head of the animal we discern evidences of the care bestowed to preserve a harmony of form. Above the nasal chambers are certain hollow spaces, indicated by the figure 7. These empty chambers may serve to impart depth to the voice, but as the horse is generally a silent creature, such, obviously, must be only a secondary purpose. To preserve the undulation of the outline was assuredly the primary intent, though at the same time the vacancies aid the reverberation of sound, and with other structures also lighten that part of the body in which they are situated.

1. The nostril leading direct to-- 2. The larynx, situated at the commencement of the windpipe. 3. The tongue. 4. The œsophagus or gullet. 5. The soft palate, which lies upon the tongue and affords a resting-place, whereon reposes the epiglottis, or the guardian cartilage to the entrance of the larynx (2). 6. The guttural pouches, or large membranous and open sacs, containing nothing but atmospheric air. 7. Nasal or frontal sinuses.

The passage of the air to the lungs, and the admirable provisions to admit its ingress and its egress, without destroying the mild and characteristic aspect of the quadruped, having been described, it now becomes the author’s duty to dwell upon the extraordinary conditions which conserve the passages of the food. Referring again to the diagram here reproduced, we see the mouth, occupied by the tongue, (figure 3,) on the base of which organ reposes a dark body, particularized by the figure 5. This last is the soft palate, which drops pendulous from the osseous roof of the masticatory orifice. Upon the soft palate lies the most forward of the laryngeal cartilages, which is anatomically spoken of as the epiglottis; while the most backward of the laryngeal cartilages, which are called the aretenoids, repose beneath the roof of the pharynx. This pharynx is the enlarged and muscular commencement of the gullet, the situation and direction of which channel is notified by the number 4.

We thus perceive in its course the food is apparently thrice forbidden to enter the gullet of the horse. In the first place, there is the soft palate, retained firmly in its position by pressure of the epiglottis. The second obstacle we recognize in the opening of the larynx; the third impediment appears in the aretenoids, that seem to bar all entrance to the tube which leads to the stomach. Moreover, the gullet itself being a muscular organ, in the passive state of semi-contraction is closed; thus appearing to oppose a further hinderance to the admission of sustenance into its proper receptacle. However, upon inquiry, the reader will discover these provisions, which appear at first glance to be ranged against the entrance of nutriment, are in reality only so many elaborate protections, all tending to the comfort and well-being of the animal.

The soft palate so effectually closes the posterior of the mouth as to prevent that cavity from being employed to modulate the voice, though such a peculiarity does not distinguish all the equine tribe. Everybody must have remarked the bray distend the jaws of an ass, whereas the neigh flutters only the nostril of the horse, the different channels through which the sound has to emerge fully accounting for the marked contrast which is conspicuous in the voices of the animals. Moreover, the horse does occasionally vomit; but, save when the organization is disturbed by the agonies of death, the voided matter is generally ejected through the nostrils.

However, the reader will perhaps best understand how the apparently closed cavity is rendered subservient to its uses by the process of deglutition being described. A portion of food is bitten off by the incisors; the substance is, by the action of the tongue, next passed to the molars, or is placed between the grinding teeth. There it is thoroughly comminuted. While this is being performed, the saliva is secreted and mingled with the mass, so as to render it quite soft or pultaceous. In this state it is formed into a pellet, and is then pressed by the tongue against the palate or roof of the mouth. The morsel, being now round and soft, is afterward, by a more energetic contraction of the tongue, driven against the pendulous palate, which seemingly closes the posterior of the orifice.

The last organ lies in that direction which enables it to offer a formidable resistance, especially when supported by the base of the tongue, to any substance proceeding from the stomach. In the contrary direction it is only held down by the epiglottis; that comparatively feeble body is forced to yield before the greater contractile power of the lingual organ. The epiglottis flies forward, covering the opening to the larynx, in which position the posterior cartilages or the aretenoids also fold over the more forward protector. A secure floor is thus formed, preventing anything from falling into the windpipe, where intrusion of the smallest substance would provoke the most alarming spasm; while a roof to the passage is also made by the raised, soft palate, whereby the nasal chambers are protected from the encroachment of undigested matters.

A safe way being thus provided, the pellet is shot into the pharynx, which, independently of the will, immediately contracts upon any substance coming within its reach, and drives the morsel into the œsophagus or gullet. The tube, surprised by the presence of the morsel, is obliged to separate for its reception; but it immediately closes on the stranger, thereby driving it lower down, when, the contractility of the fiber being again aroused, it is once more driven onward, and this action is continued until the food is safely lodged within the walls of the stomach.

Few persons can comprehend the above explanation without being forcibly impressed by the beauty and the nicety of the whole arrangement. The elevation of the soft palate closes the nostrils, and at the same time provides a floor for the gaping passage to the lungs. The motion of the soft palate nudges the epiglottis, which lies upon it and causes that cartilage to bend over the opening to the larynx. The bowing down of the epiglottis induces the aretenoids also to stoop, thus forming a safe floor to the necessitated passage. Across the chasm, now rendered secure, the food is shot into the pharynx and conveyed to the stomach, the whole process being accomplished in an instant, for the act of swallowing provokes no sensible impediment to the continuance of respiration.

These things, however instructive or amusing they may be when related, nevertheless are too little thought of; nor is the horse itself sufficiently considered. Were the lessons, which its body should teach mankind, properly understood, those abuses, that are at present limited to no class, would instantaneously cease to be practiced. Most people of this country, however, treat the horse as though it were an original inhabitant of the English climate. Rich and poor in this respect are equally faulty, save that those are most to blame who, possessing wealth, can command the leisure requisite for inquiry, and, being blessed with ability to gratify their inclinations, have no excuse for lack of sympathy in the pressure of necessity. The great error, however, consists in a national carelessness about the matter. The slave is accepted as a property; its life is wasted; its body is abused; man sleeps happy in the belief that animals were created for his use. To render them subservient to his pleasure is the amount of all that he conceives to be his duty. The winter’s straw yard and the autumn’s run are both follies--sadly common, but nevertheless deserving the condemnation of all good or thoughtful men.

The animal carries about its person the signs which testify it once roamed within a warmer climate than our northern region. The certificate of its origin is legibly written in the eye of the quadruped. This organ mutely attests, that the temperate zone was not the birthplace of its progenitors. It has long been a captive in Britain; but the proof of its proper dwelling-place no time can obliterate. The eye of the horse, like that of the camel, displays a special provision, fitting the creature to endure the strongest glare of a tropical sun, even when reflected from a level waste of shining sand; or, in other words, the first parents of the tribe must have careered across some burning desert.

The corpora nigra, in the eye of the camel, are black bodies, pendent from the margin of the iris. The purpose of so special a provision is not apparent, when darkness occasions the opening to dilate; but when the glare is powerful--so powerful as to induce blindness even in the natives of those lands where a concentrated light is possible--then the intent of its Beneficent Creator becomes apparent.

The pupil of the horse’s eye is never circular, being, when much dilated, rather oblong in figure; but, when exposed to the direct rays of the summer’s sun, the opening energetically contracts. Then the pupil is best represented by a mere line; for the edges of the iris at such a season seemingly touch each other. In this condition, the uses of the corpora nigra can hardly be mistaken: the little black bodies appear to fit into one another, forming apparently an impenetrable network opposed to the entrance of too strong a glare.

Let the author and the reader, however, temperately consider this matter. The pupil in the eye of the horse is not more distant than two inches from the origin of the optic nerve. When the division to be seen through is so close, and the object to be viewed is exhibited under the strongest natural light, the merest crevice will be equal to all the purposes of perfect vision. The full glare of the sun alone occasioning the horse’s pupil to contract, that which causes the opening to almost shut also provides the excess of light, which alone could render useful that narrow division through which objects must be recognized; while the dark bodies, being stationed before the point of sight, answer the purpose of the smoke which lads load upon glass when they are ambitious of gazing at the sun.

The reader must have remarked the pupillary line through which the domestic cat exercises perfect vision during the bright noon of a midsummer day. The eye of the feline race is, however, possessed of no other protection. The contraction may be the effect of weakness of sight; at all events, the author thinks he may conclude the far-famed eye of the cat to be inferior to that of a horse. The domestic mouser is popularly said to see in the dark; the steed has been long known to penetrate the gloom which sets the strained vision of its master at defiance; but it remains to be granted that both horse and cat are equally fitted to roam by night. The habits of the herbivorous creature would, however, assert it to be possessed of such a faculty; and the anatomist discovers in the visual organ of the animal a provision specially adapting it for these peregrinations.

Upon the upper and forward surface of the inner, dark chamber, and so placed as to catch, to concentrate, and to reflect every stray ray of light upon the optic nerve, the tapidum lucidum is discovered within the globe of the horse’s eye. This structure is, after death, very bright or of metallic luster, and, because of its concave form, is admirably adapted to its particular function. That no doubt may remain as to the design of such a provision, the tapidum lucidum is found only within the eyes of those quadrupeds created to roam by night. It is altogether absent in such animals as were destined to move about during daylight.

The tapidum lucidum, therefore, viewed in conjunction with the corpora nigra, becomes an inferential proof that the horse originally inhabited some land in which the coolness of the night offered the greatest temptation for pleasant pasturage. The Mighty Benefactor, consequently, formed His creature to enjoy the bounties among which it was permitted to roam. We know the cat was imported from the tropics; and, seeing that the eyes of both animals, in one marked particular, resemble each other, we may conjecture the horse originally inhabited a warmer climate; while the likeness between the equine race and “the ship of the desert” demonstrates that that locality was the hottest portion of the earth.

The eye of the horse is also provided with a power which could seldom be needed in these Northern climes, where the fleetness of the equine tribe might readily set at defiance the comparative feebleness of all the predatory beasts of prey. Besides, the wooded state of this country must have rendered the presence of telescopic vision unnecessary. Upon the far-stretching level of the desert, however, where larger and more ferocious animals prowl by night, the possession of such a faculty would be a needed protection. Accordingly, we find the interior of the globe to consist chiefly of water, the outward covering being formed of a tough substance, which is easily compressible; while all the hidden portion of the exterior is enveloped by muscular fiber.

Situated directly upon the forward portion of the ball are the two oblique muscles. These are inserted at opposite places, and each pulls in a contrary direction to the other. The two, simultaneously acting, could not move the organ, but would, obviously, tend to fix it or to render the globe stationary. The outer substance of the horse’s eyes is composed of a thick and pliable covering, purely tendinous in character. The interior consists of fluid perfectly pure and transparent. At the back of all is placed the optic nerve; while the exterior is enveloped by several thick and straight muscles.

The motor agents are endowed with an ability to contract or to shorten in their reach. When parts of this nature operate upon a plastic substance, which is filled only with a fluid, they must of necessity tend to alter the shape of that body on which they repose. The oblique muscles act to prevent rotation; the pressure, therefore, can only compress, elongate, and force backward the ball of the eye. By such a capacity that telescopic property is produced which man feebly imitates by a complex and costly machine.

Anatomy also discovers another important function proper to the eye of the horse, which equally indicates a sandy plain to have been the original habitat of the tribe.

The soft sand of the Southern region would form a soil over which the equine foot could safely travel. The horn, in an unprotected state, was created to journey over so yielding and so dry a surface. Harder ground is poorly suited to the tread of the animal, a fact well established by the brittle hoof being among the recognized diseases of this country; while a wet soil is by no means advantageous, which circumstance is amply illustrated by the weak horn characteristic of those animals reared on the fens of Lincolnshire. The level of the desert presented that combination of qualities which could render the exhibition of its speed a delight to the unbroken quadruped; while the warmth of the climate would afford the medium in which a lustrous coat testifies to the health of a beautiful body.

In opposition to the above inference is the recorded fact that, when English horses were transported as cavalry into Egypt, the dryness of the climate frequently caused the hoofs so to crack as to render the animals totally useless. This circumstance, when first learned, appears to weigh heavily against the conclusion toward which the author’s arguments were tending. In reality, however, it establishes nothing; it fades before rational investigation. A life, after having left its native country, does not necessarily thrive when it revisits the land of its origin. Englishmen, who have spent their youth in India, generally return to the variableness and to the humidity of this climate, and complain of the country which, when it was quitted, appeared to be cursed with no evil properties. Negroes captured by British cruisers, and set free on the far-famed colony of emancipation, are ascertained to perish the more rapidly on their return to Africa. These poor people are said to sink more speedily than even Europeans succumb before the clime of flame.

The speed of the horse would enable the quadruped to travel with comparative ease between those remote spots of verdure which lie scattered throughout the desert. The distance which divides these luxuriant localities could present no insurmountable obstacle to the unburdened steed, since the domesticated animal has carried its rider more than one hundred miles. The horse can endure long fasts, and even sustain severe thirst--the colon being a portion of the bowel generally devoted to the store of liquid nutriment; but the distance must have been accomplished in a cloud of sand sufficiently dense to blind the creature which traveled in the center of a moving herd.

The eye of the horse, however, is by nature provided with a protection against so terrible an affliction, which would expose any wild animal to a fearful death. The outer membrane of the eye is almost limited to covering the more forward or transparent surface, being thence reflected upon the interior of the eyelids. This membrane, when in a single layer, is incapable of communicating to the sensorium more than a feeling of uneasiness. When single, it may be touched, burnt, and cut, without producing actual pain; but the unpleasant sensation provokes a desire to wink, and the instant the lid descends upon the globe, or from the moment when two surfaces of the membrane are in apposition, agony ensues.

DIAGRAM, EXPLANATORY OF THE SITUATION OF THE LACHRYMAL GLAND, OR THE SOURCE OF TEARS, AND OF OTHER PARTS PROPER TO THE HORSE’S EYE.

a. The outer angle. b. The puncta lachrymalis, or round body, situated at the inner angle of the eye. c. The lachrymal gland, covered by the upper lid and placed near the outer angle of the eye. e e. The position, extent, and doubling of the conjunctiva, or of the investing mucous membrane, which envelops the outer portion of the globe and lines the lids. ]

The membrane now under consideration renders it an impossibility for any substance to get “into the eye;” the pain present, when such an assertion is commonly made, gives the strongest proof that the foreign body is retained between two surfaces of that delicate structure which is called conjunctiva. Dryness is, however, destructive of the feeling and of the transparency of this membrane. Nature, therefore, has created a special gland for assuring its perpetual moisture. This last body is situated immediately beneath the surface, under the upper lid and toward the outer corner of the eye. It is, on ordinary occasions, stimulated to send forth its secretion by the act of winking; and the outer corner being situated above the inner corner of the horse’s eye, the moisture is, by the motion of the lid, instantaneously brushed over the circular globe.

The gland of the horse, however, has a distinct use not shared by any similar provision to be found in the eye of man. In the human being, grief or pain provokes the secretion; these are always accompanied by floods of tears. Some writers assert they have witnessed agony induce tears in the quadruped; but the author has seen fearful operations inflicted on the noble animal--he has heard huge groans testify to the sufferings endured; yet he has never beheld the eye overflow, or seen anything present which approximated to weeping.

Pain, when occasioned by some foreign body between the two layers of membrane, produces not weeping, but a positive overflow of liquid, the purpose of which will be best explained after the reader has been made acquainted with a particular organ situated at the inner angle of the eye.

The lower corner of the organ is characterized by a round body, which, being enveloped in a single layer of membrane, is strictly without sensation. Upon this body the grime of the human eye accumulates, and we shall shortly perceive that its presence in the horse is not without a purpose. Next to the foregoing development, and so placed as to accurately fit the globe, is a structure which anatomists name the cartilago nictitans, or the winking cartilage. The more forward portion of this cartilage possesses a fine edge, while its base presents a broad surface, which reposes upon the fat at the back of the orbit. Now, as fat is not compressible by ordinary force, whenever the muscles draw the globe backward, the adipose matter is driven forward; this last carries with it the cartilago nictitans, which is consequently projected suddenly over the surface of the globe. But when the muscles relax, the fat resumes its original place, and with it the cartilage also retires.

When any foreign body gets between the two layers of membrane, instant winking results; the gland, stimulated by the motion of the lid, sends forth a gush of liquid. It is not simply a tear or two, but a deluge of fluid is emitted; this flood, aided by the action of the lid, carries the foreign substance in the course of gravity, or from the external toward the internal corner of the globe. While this is taking place, the pain also excites the powerful muscles of the eye to spasmodic activity. With every spasm the fat is displaced, and the cartilage darts from the inner corner partially over the round surface of the eyeball. The process continues until the substance is partly brushed and partly washed to within the range of the fine anterior edge of the cartilage; when, by its withdrawal, the foreign particle is lodged upon the round insensitive body developed at the inner corner of the eye. Toward the last point the tears naturally tend, and any exciting substance, when there placed, is soon floated on to the hair of the cheek.

By joining these many proofs, we gain a moral certainty concerning the region whence the horse originated. The eye is seen to be gifted not only with a special provision against the glare of the desert, but it also possesses a peculiar development fitting the animal to enjoy the cool pasturage of the night. The eye is likewise endowed with a telescopic power suited to sweep the far-stretching horizon of the sandy waste. Moreover, the organ discloses a special apparatus evidently designed to overcome those accidents to which inhabitants of arid plains, when rapidly traveling long distances, and in large herds, were exposed.

The reader, perhaps, somewhat wearied by this lengthened description, may, however, be inclined to exclaim, “So that we possess the horse, what care we whence the beast was derived?” There can be no crumb of knowledge so small, but it is worth man’s while to stoop and pick up the treasure. Its uses may not be apparent at the time of its discovery, but its application is certain before long to repay the person who prizes it. Taking the instance just narrated about the horse, an assured knowledge of the land whence the beautiful stranger came enables man the better to feel for its requirements; attention to the welfare of its life will be repaid by more lasting service to the master who claims it as a property. By disregarding this teaching, we subject the quadruped to suffering, which cramps the limbs, limits the utility, and shortens the existence, thus stinting the worth and curtailing the lease of the possession.

When writing the foregoing, the author is aware that gentlemen of known probity have reported the existence of herds of wild horses careering free and unbroken over the plains of Asia. Such was formerly said to be the case, and was also credited as an established fact with regard to Southern America. Subsequent inquiry, however, has shown that the wild animals of the pampas are no more than neglected flocks roaming, apparently without an owner, but which, in reality, are allowed thus to gain a cheap livelihood by a careless proprietor. These American herds are liable to the claim of some man, almost as wild as the animals themselves; so also the reported Asian quadrupeds turn out to be the recognized possession of some wandering Tartar.

However, to leave the consideration of particular parts, and to view the entire body anatomically, the vertebræ or spinal chain, as forming the base of the skeleton, becomes of primary importance. The back-bone of the horse consists of various pieces, so firmly held together by interlacing ligaments and muscles that students, when desirous of dividing the spine of a dead animal, often find it easier to saw the bones asunder than to separate them with the knife. The neck is composed of seven bones; the back is formed by eighteen vertebræ; the loins consist of six pieces, and the sacrum is made up of five distinct parts, although long before adultism all of these last are united by osseous junction.

1. The hair. 2. The skin. 3. The adipose, or fatty tissue directly under the skin. 4. The bursæ mucosæ, or synovial sacks placed above each dorsal spine. 5. The yellow, elastic ligament connecting the dorsal spines together. 6. The spines of the dorsal vertebræ. 7. The semi-spinalis dorsi muscle. 8. The heads of the ribs. 9. The levatores costarum muscle. 10. The ribs. ]

The sacrum, therefore, is not reckoned among the true vertebræ, the number of which, however, amounts to thirty-two. Of these many divisions, the bones of the neck alone are not subject to deviations. The lumbar may be five or seven, and the dorsal limitation is either one above or one below the usual amount, neither of which varieties are of very rare occurrence. The links of the back-bone differ in form and in function. The dorsal vertebræ seem, at first sight, to possess no lateral processes; whereas in the lumbar region these developments are so extended as to constitute the principal features of the several parts. So also the two first bones of the neck enjoy great motion, and all the links of the neck are very far from stationary. But the parts of the back, on the contrary, are all but fixed; yet, although each is endowed with a very limited movement, the whole is gifted with an evident elasticity which affords an easy seat to the rider.

Along the top of the back-bone runs a strong cord of yellow, elastic fiber, which unites the several parts, holding these firmly together as one whole. The elastic cord, however, passes directly from the last dorsal spine, to be fixed into the back portion of the skull, thus skipping over all the bones of the neck. The fibers of this cord are longitudinally arranged; and however elastic such a substance may be, the dorsal arrangement would not allow of that freedom of motion which was requisite in the neck of an animal which was to crop its food from the surface of the earth.

The necessity, however, was fully met by an elastic cloth being, as it were, thrown over the cord, and extending thence to the bones of the neck. By this arrangement, frequent attachments were avoided and grace of outline was preserved, while no deterioration was made in that provision by means of which the heavy head is supported without apparent strain upon the muscular fiber. One end of the elastic expansion being inserted into the cervical bones, all the ease and beauty of movement is rendered possible by the retractile property of the cloth-like ligament being fully equal to the sustenance of the weight, but not strong enough to resist the action of the muscles when excited. Thus, the muscles situated at the base of the neck serve to depress the head; the elastic cloth answers as a counterpoising force, which steadies the movement; the action of the motor agents near the crest, aided by the ligamentous elasticity of the neck, serve to elevate the part, while the muscular power at the base of the bones regulates and guides the upward motion.

But the reader may be desirous to learn how far the back of the animal is suited to endure the weight of the rider. The bones of the spine, not being joined by osseous union, may give solidity to the part; but it must be self-evident the chain possesses no inherent power to sustain the smallest pressure. Therefore, the body of the rider, when placed upon the back, cannot be upheld by bone alone. The weight must repose upon the muscles and the ligaments by which the solid parts are kept together. Man, therefore, when mounted upon a horse, is seated upon elastic substances, animated by the powers of vitality. This circumstance readily accounts for the pleasurable feelings and the lightness of spirit communicated to the master when within the saddle; although the delicacy of the structures on which the burden is cast should also instruct that an elaborately and a delicately-organized body ought to be shielded from labor until age has confirmed and strengthened the several portions of the frame.

When contemplating the uses for which the quadruped was created, we perceive the necessity of that huge mass of muscular fiber with which the back is cushioned. We also recognize the beauty of intention which those numerous supports, called ribs, embody and declare. These props, eighteen on either side, must greatly strengthen the main structure, although each is of a loose texture, and every one is more or less pliable. The innate property of elasticity belonging to the horse’s ribs seems to have been long known to country urchins, who, out of these bones, have been accustomed to form bows whence to propel juvenile arrows. Nature, however, seems not to have been satisfied with this provision, for the inferior portion of the ribs consists of cartilage, which anatomists speak of as the most elastic substance in the body; this yielding termination rests on the sternum or breast-bone, a structure more than three parts of which are composed of the last-named material.

Showing the manner in which the ribs spring from the spine to unite upon the bone of the breast.]

The manner in which the fore limb is united to the trunk likewise offers matter for the reader’s admiration. Considering that the horse is a beast of burden, man, were he designing a creature fitted for such uses, would assuredly have sought to gain strength by the insertion of bone. Bone, however, would have interfered with that agility which, no less than strength, is an attribute of the horse’s body. The presence even of a clavicle joining the shoulder to the thorax would have exposed a jumping quadruped to repeated fractures. Nature, therefore, bound the parts together by interlacing fibers. And to afford an idea of the marvelous care bestowed on this arrangement, the following diagram is submitted to the contemplation of the reader.

Three muscles have already been removed, viz., the panniculus carnosus, the levator humeri, and the latissimus dorsi.

1. The trapezius. 2. The seratus magnus. 3. The subscapulo hyoideus. 4. The rhomboideus. 5. The pectoralis anticus. 6. The anterior portion of the pectoralis magnus. 7. The pectoralis parvus. 8. The pectoralis transversus. ]

The rider, therefore, when mounted on a horse, is not only seated upon fleshy and ligamentous fiber, and upheld by pliable bone based upon elastic cartilage, but as the thorax is supported by the anterior extremity, he actually swings upon the strongest and most yielding substance known throughout animated nature. Could mortal ingenuity, by the exercise of any force or duration of thought, have perfected so exquisite a work? But the mind is abased and humbled before the proofs of Superior Wisdom, when we find that all hitherto made known is but a part of the lavish provision bestowed upon the perfection of God’s most beautiful gift to man.

The bones within the fore limb are not self-sustaining. Remove their coverings, and they will not retain their several places, but will fall in a heap upon the earth. The fact proves that the osseous framework, although it confers solidity upon the body, is nevertheless upheld by the structures with which it is enveloped. The bony column, however, when united and bound together, exhibits an intention of bestowing elasticity quite as much as of conferring strength. In the first place, the solid column is crowned by a broad but thin plate of cartilage, the yielding property of which has already been dilated upon; so that the trunk not only swings upon living fiber, but the primary weight is endured by what anatomists designate “the most elastic substance in the body,” of a shape and form which develops to the uttermost its bending property.

The arrangement of the shoulder-blade and the bone on which it rests being angular, evidently contemplates a yielding to any force coming from above. The two next bones cannot be viewed as meant solely for strength; though the several parts of the knee and shank are slightly columnar in their order, nevertheless the pastern bones again display an intent to yield rather than a design at gaining decided resistance. Yet, even there remains further food for contemplation when viewing these dry bones of a quadruped. The shock, of which the rider complains when doomed to cross the trunk of some poor animal whose body has been disorganized by abuse, is occasioned by the bones having been, through disease, thrown from their natural positions.

Engineers well know that sand will oppose the force of a cannon ball, the power being rapidly exhausted which has to travel through numerous separated particles. Each grain of sand, therefore, being distinct, a bag of that substance offers a good preventive to the concussion produced by the explosive force of gunpowder. But the reader, when endeavoring to ascertain the provisions instituted by Benevolence to save the equestrian from concussion, can at once perceive the purpose for which the osseous support of the limb was formed of several pieces, as well as appreciate the beauty and grace of motion which is thereby assured.

Looking at the illustration, we observe that certain of the component solids of the limbs are altogether out of the perpendicular, and consequently must receive other support than is derived from the bone immediately below them. Indeed, no portion of the structure is decidedly columnar in its arrangement. Either the parts are crooked, or they lean in a direction from the plummet line. The angularity of the two topmost pieces can, however, not possibly escape notice; neither can the slanting position of the pastern bones fail to attract attention. Noting these peculiarities, the reader recognizes that the bones of the fore extremity cannot be self-sustaining, but they must be upheld or retained in their relative situations by the structures which surround them in the living subject.

The scapula and humerus, or the two topmost bones, are rendered firm by the joint action of the powerful extensor and flexor muscles appertaining to the shoulder. The pastern bones transfer their weight to the strong tendon which passes immediately under their lower surfaces. The other bones are held in their situations by the energetic contractility of the muscles which embrace them. Hence it is obvious the rider, when seated on the back of a horse, is not upheld by any osseous resistance. His burden reposes upon living fiber. The bone limits the sphere of contractility, and thus gives firmness to the limbs; but it endures no portion of the weight. So exquisitely has nature adapted her creature to its uses, that in the horse man is provided with a means of conveyance remarkable for fleetness, but more wonderful for the elastic and buoyant seat which an admirable body affords to an ungrateful master.

THE PRINCIPAL FLEXOR TENDONS OF THE FORELEG.

1. The perforans. 2. The perforatus. 3, 4. Accessory muscles. 5, 6. Restraining ligaments. 7. The pedal cartilage divided. 8. The navicular bone. ]

Had weight been cast upon bone, the shock communicated by placing the foot upon the ground would have been so powerful as must have made the saddle a seat of torture. This is no speculative conjecture, but it is a deduction drawn from positive fact. Hard work causes the pastern bones to quit the slant, which is their natural position, and to assume a more upright direction. They very rarely become actually perpendicular; but as they verge toward that attitude, so as partially to transfer their weight from the tendon to one another, the jar communicated to the rider becomes most distressing. The tendons of the foreleg are, therefore, of all importance; the utility of these structures cannot be better illustrated than by appealing to the terrible effects which ensue upon injury to these organs.

However, that the reader may fully appreciate the simplicity and the seeming complexity developed in the various arrangements exposed upon dissection, the next illustration is inserted, against which numerous lines are fixed. Those marks indicate the points where a substance, like to white of egg, is interposed between the extremities of the bones. Each separate bone thus not only rests upon a liquid, but the ends of these formations are likewise tipped with cartilage, thus doubly securing the ease of progression. Nor have the perfection of these various arrangements received full justice, for concussion of the foot has not only to travel through different bones tipped by cartilage and separated by the interposition of a fluid, but it also has to progress through the various structures of which the limb itself is composed, and to travel in different directions.

So elaborate an arrangement, or one better fitted to answer its intention, no human study could invent. Man has for ages labored to disarrange the parts thus admirably adjusted; when so employed, he has only followed the example of the savage who destroys the product he is incapable of understanding. No injury, no wrong, no cruelty can be conceived which barbarity has not inflicted on the most generous of man’s many willing slaves. While this has been going forward, nations, at a vast outlay, have retained expensive establishments to entreat the mercies of a Superior to be lavished upon themselves, and at the moment these people were boasting aloud of their refined feelings or of their exalted civilization, they have been incapable of sympathizing with the agony which was imprisoned within the walls of their premises.

The lines indicate the places where synovia (or a fluid resembling white of egg) is interposed between the different structures. ]

Looking toward the quarters of the horse, we perceive the spines of the lumbar and sacral bones arranged in so peculiar a manner as to excite remark. Those of the loins bend forward, while those of the haunch incline backward, thus leaving a free space dividing the uppermost bones of two neighboring regions. There must be a reason for so evident a design. Inspecting the last lumbar bone, we ascertain it to be united by its lateral processes, yet it does not touch the first sacral body, all other parts of the chain joining at their centers.

Here is cause for reflection! What takes place at this spot which could render imperative such an arrangement? In what action is the inclination of the trunk so opposite to the position of the quarters as to render imperative such a special provision as is here exemplified in the skeleton? In prancing, in rearing, and in jumping, the hind legs are firmly planted upon the earth; then, by exertion of the powerful muscles of the quarters, the forward trunk is raised. This action could not have been exhibited had the spines of the sacral bones ranged in the same direction as those of the lumbar vertebræ; and to enforce the reason of this evident provision a free space characterizes this particular joint, others being formed by the interposition of cartilage.

The skeleton of the quarters is characterized by further distinctive peculiarities. The sacral bones are fixed one to another, and joining them at the spine is the huge hip-bone. This is the heaviest of the many weighty pieces which compose the osseous frame of the horse. It is irregular in form, and remarkable for an unusually rugged exterior. An anatomist, by simply inspecting it, could designate its uses, so emphatically is everywhere written the origin and insertion of powerful motor muscles. In every ridge, in every indentation, in every inequality anatomy discovers such a purpose; thus, when “the gnarled and bossy” developments upon this bone are viewed in conjunction with the solid and uneven appearance of the lower osseous supports of the hind limb, no person properly instructed can doubt that the quarters are peculiarly the seat of muscular power in the equine race.

Then the angular arrangement of the bones suggests the immediate purpose of flexion and extension. “Yes,” interrupts the reader, “that is true; but supposing the loose bones of the skeleton only to exist, what was to suggest the angularity of arrangement?” Such a fact could be thus readily ascertained. The bodies of other animals would inform the anatomist of the relative situations of the stifle and the elbow joints, while the different lengths and points of bearing in the fore and hind extremities would instruct him concerning all the rest.

But no knowledge could enable the anatomist to infer the gracefulness of form and flow of line which characterizes the body of the horse, even when deprived of its outward investment. Here is a sketch of the quarter after partial dissection. It scarcely awakens the disgust which anatomical labors generally create. The elegance which distinguishes the living creature is hardly lost--certainly it is not entirely destroyed--and the author is acquainted with no other body which could equally endure so harsh a test.

The inferior bones of the subjoined sketch lead to the foot; but as the osseous structure of this part was illustrated in a previous sketch, and as the fore and hind feet of the horse are in the leading particulars alike, the author will not fill valuable space by unnecessary repetition. However, the hind foot of the horse being the point whence all the strain of propulsion must proceed, the part, from such a cause alone, will be liable to certain distortions. The evils engendered by the cruel impatience of mankind, which forces the colt into too early labor, causes the natural position of the member to become altered. The pastern bones grow to be erect, and, should the toil still be enforced, the shank bone afterward projects. If these warnings are disregarded, inhumanity provokes the heels to be drawn upward, and a valuable helpmate is thus incapacitated from assisting man in his earthly task.

While writing of the horse, it should not be forgotten that in this country there is another animal which properly belongs to the equine race, and which is liable to most of the evils as well as worthy of much of the commendation that has been already pronounced, as though these referred only to one specimen of the tribe. The donkey is much misunderstood. Because its name has become a figure of reproach, no writer hitherto has dilated seriously upon its requirements, although several have been ignorantly sentimental, where suffering needed only truth to plead in its behalf. The animal must have its uses, or its breed would not be preserved.

The fact establishes that the creature is of service to mankind, since the life, whose season of utility has expired, like the dodo, soon ceases to exist. It is, however, chiefly the property of those whose feelings are subject to their necessities. The purchase of such a chattel is comparatively easy; the food is the refuse of the stable; but the work is often disproportionately heavy, for the ass too frequently belongs to those whose daily round of toil would tax the strength of the largest horse.

The prejudice which encircles this miserable being appears to be countenanced even in the dissecting rooms of the veterinary profession. Anatomy is a science the only merit of which depends upon its being a literal record of facts; yet students, at the before-mentioned places, are fond of alluding to the larynx of the ass, as displaying a peculiar development, which accounts for the difference of voice between the last-named animal and the horse. The author could never discover such a curiosity, nor is any necessary, when the peculiarity of the two sounds is attentively noticed. One is a nasal tone, modulated by the flutter of the nostrils; the other is a harsh, grating noise, produced by energetically inhaling and expelling the atmosphere through the extended pipe of the animal’s trachea.

The donkey labors, however, beyond the care of its enslaver and without the region of human sympathy. Be its toil exhaustive, let it work without cessation throughout the day and far into the night, no eye regards its fatigue with commiseration. It is an object only to laugh at. The popular belief is, that the tribe is so peculiarly hardy as to be altogether removed from the necessities, the liabilities, or the accidents common to every other form of life. All grades of existence which men please to neglect, they generally designate as “hardy.” Human beings, however, notoriously become less “hardy” as knowledge is enlarged and as life becomes better cared for. Will the time ever arrive when perception can embrace that which we now view only as an object of fun, and when the donkey will be regarded as entitled to share the consideration bestowed upon all the other inhabitants of earth?

The country is not secure, the people are not released from barbarism, while the pressure of want can blind the nation to the lawful needs of the lives which surround and which serve it. Civilization must be far from perfected, when an inquiry concerning the man who has beheld a dead donkey can make a large assemblage laugh. The author has, however, known poor families to be plunged into deep distress because the assinine form of existence was not immortal. His experience may, probably, be peculiar, but it is opposed to the stale jest of our theaters; for when he was demonstrator at the Royal Veterinary College, he used to dispute with the man who supplied donkeys for the pupils to dissect, whether the institution should or should not bear the loss of such as died before their lives were required by the school. These creatures were bought at Smithfield, and brought to Saint Pancras for animals enjoying health; they were wanted to endure but a few days; yet the author has seen three carcasses anticipate this brief interval of permitted existence.

The author can further testify that, among the scores of carcasses which he has dissected, he never examined the body of a donkey, however young it might have been, that he did not encounter appalling proofs of internal injuries--injuries which had resulted in change of structure, and which would have consigned the horse to the knacker’s yard. Yet the animals thus maimed were working up to the date of purchase; the inability to move was attributed to the obstinacy which is generously supposed to characterize the ill-treated animal, and the blows fell heavier in proportion as its actual condition should have appealed to human forbearance.

To properly comprehend the sufferings of the quadruped, we must know the country whence it is derived, and be acquainted with the soil it is fitted to inhabit. The wild ass delights in the sandy desert of a tropical region, and for the products of such a locality a taste is, by the English representative, retained. It lives and thrives upon the spontaneous herbage of the arid waste. The heat, under which other forms of life appear to languish, fills the donkey with animation. The comparative size of its intestines fit it to store away that amount of water which in the land of its nativity is proverbially scarce.

The donkey in England is dragged into a wintry climate, rendered more inhospitable by the low temperature which is the most prominent characteristic of the country. In cold and in wet, the native of a tropical soil must lead a miserable existence. In Britain, however, it breathes and breeds; but it is here on the limits of even its power to endure. In Scotland the tribe is all but unknown. Where it can live, however, no one thinks of its real condition; no mortal is so weak as to waste pity upon its suffering. Its toil is without other limit than the pleasure of its master; when the day’s work is done, the nearest lane is the only stable ready to receive it.

The author has often, when passing down some narrow and unfrequented highway, during the early part of December, encountered a miserable group of beings endeavoring to afford each other a little warmth by crowding close together. The weather at this season is piercing cold. The ground is squashy, and moisture loads the atmosphere. The fierce wind bends the bare twigs of the adjacent hedge, and the temperature is of that kind which heralds the Christmas frost. It is not yet so low as to numb sensation; but it leaves the edge of feeling unblunted, that sense may fully appreciate the heavy misery, before whose wildness all nature moans and crouches. In such a place, and at such a season, the author has been made sad by the living anguish which the preceding illustration feebly depicts.

The donkey, in this country, is very unfortunate in the class whom it principally serves. The lower order, though with impulses untainted by politeness, yet, in the struggle for life, have little leisure to quicken their perceptions or to cultivate their feelings. Their own necessities forbid them to be generous, and render somewhat rude their intercourse. They exist not within the amenities, but upon the borders of society; the law, under whose protection the affluent breathe in comfort, is to them a cruel institution, which forces them to endure, which they recognize only as a restraint, and with which they are powerless openly to contend.

In towns, the homes of such a race are without attractions. The very poor are ignorant of domesticity. They eat and live abroad, and seek their lodgings only when utter weariness makes them heedless where they rest. If the lodging be large enough to conceal, it possesses all the requirements poverty demands. To be larger is to be colder; for the ignorant study rather to drag on existence from day to day than think to promote the health, which is their only real possession.

When such a people rise in their sphere of contention, and can afford to discard the hand-barrow for the donkey-tray, the inferior animal can expect no separate lodging. That will hardly be provided for a beast which the master was too abased to conceive necessary for the members of his family.

The donkey is hailed as a new possession; and for security, not from any loftier consideration, it has to share the proprietor’s home. No hole can be too narrow, too dark, or too stifling for the animal’s abode, so that it provides the safe keeping for which it is sought. Humanity shudders as it pictures the strange places which poverty may view as the fitting homes of its dependants!

The young horse may be stinted in its food, but it is spared from work until a certain period has arrived. All classes have their stated ages when the colt should first begin to labor; but the ass has no recognized season of rest, even for its immaturity. It is forced to work so soon as need can see in the growing body a capacity to assist. Foals are often to be seen dragging loaded trays about the streets of London, and the day’s toil is lengthened or shortened by the quickness or the slowness of the day’s sale. The food is, during this time, the refuse of the stock; seldom can the owner spare from his earnings that which will purchase fodder for the life which is the partner of his fatigues.

The donkey is harnessed for the early market. The costermonger rides with his family to make his bargains for the day; and the stock-in-trade being procured, he and they ride with it back again. The very poor never walk, save upon necessity, and seem never to conceive their animals can be tired or overladen. The wretched quadruped, on home being reached, is not released and permitted to rest. It has to support the tray while the family wash the stock, display the viands, and get their morning meal; after which it is started with a kick and a blow, and an exclamation of, “Come up, lazy! why, what ails ye, this marning?”

Animals have generally less ability to endure fatigue than have the human race; but if the donkey has to work before man’s daily round commences, so also do its toils increase after the period of mortal labor has been fulfilled. My readers must recollect to have frequently beheld the coster’s tray, now emptied of the green stock of the morning, but occupied by several shouting fellows, and drawn past the windows by a little donkey. The street purveyor of vegetables often travels far to dispose of his wares. But the green stuff distributed, he considers his labors for the day to be ended. He then has time to appreciate his own sensations. He flings his body full length upon the tray, and, with the good nature which belongs to his class, does not refuse a ride to any wayfarer so long as the vehicle can accommodate another passenger. All, then, fully impressed with the popular credulities concerning the donkey, commence shouting and thumping, while the animal, which has been upon its legs before the light began, is forced to travel homeward at a pace which is compelled to be faster in proportion as it may be distant from its lodging.

In the country, the houses being more separated, the animal is deprived of the frequent stoppages and the lighter draught of the towns. The pull is heavier, and the distances are longer; but still the donkey must progress until the master has earned a certain sum, without which he rarely turns the creature’s head toward his home. If the proprietors of asses have few faiths, they are all thoroughly imbued with one belief, which is, that the animal in their keeping cannot possibly feel exhaustion. Their credulity does not stay here. They are impressed with a conviction that no creature of the donkey tribe has any sort of feeling. The quadruped, they know, can bear an unusual amount of beating with the thickest possible bludgeon, and simply requires only the coarsest of refuse for sustenance. Moreover, such conviction leaves the proprietor his own convenience to consider, when imposing burdens on “the beast within his gate.”

The last article of belief makes the man select the weakest portion of his dumb servant’s spine for a seat, when he is inclined to play the jockey. The reader, to whose notice diagrams of the equine spine have been submitted, knows that the loins alone are unsupported by other bones. The absence of that which renders this region the weakest division of the vertebræ, also makes this portion of the quadruped’s back the most yielding and elastic. Here the fashion of vulgarity fixes the rider’s seat when he strides the ass. The veterinary student will remember that few of the lumbar bones in the carcasses he dissected, when at college, were in their integrity. The author has encountered two, three, and even four bones of the six which compose the part locked together by osseous deposit.

Such a form of union proves the animal to have suffered inflammation. The injury must have been endured and the agony must have run its course; for an osseous junction is positive evidence that all the stages of inflammation have been survived. Few persons, when they behold the young donkey stagger under the weight of its six-foot rider, care to think of this; nay, the writer has beheld really worthy gentlemen stand and enjoy the scene of activity presented at evening time by a rural gipsy’s encampment. The women were laughing, the men were shouting, while the more jovial of the gang were racing on the common. Those poor donkeys, which already had been goaded to the performance of no ordinary day’s toil, were carrying terrific loads, and beaten till they galloped, despite the deep-seated anguish with which they were afflicted.