2l8 LOWER ANIMALS. 



at maturity nor how long he lives. Huxley states 1 that the orang- 

 outan is not believed to be adult before the age of ten or fifteen. 

 In writing at a much later date, Prof. Hartmann says 2 : "It is not 

 yet ascertained at what age the orang becomes capable of 

 propagating his species, nor how long the female continues to bring 

 forth young. * * * The young, which are slow in coming to 

 maturity, live long under the protection of their mother." Wood 

 states 3 that the chimpanzee reaches "perfection of development'' 

 at the age of nine or ten. We are not informed what "adult" and 

 "perfection of development" in these connections mean, but, ap- 

 plied to man, they would mean about 25 years. We may therefore 

 assume that the orang and the chimpanzee begin to breed at about 

 seven or eight, and that the average age of reproduction is about 

 15 to 1 8. While this is only an estimate from very meagre data, 

 it cannot be far wrong. 



THE HORSE. 



The horse is, with the possible exception of the dog, the most 

 intelligent of domestic animals. He reaches maturity at the age 

 of 4 or 5, and lives beyond 20, and in rare cases beyond 30. He 

 is able to, and does, breed at an early age. The stallion Hamble- 

 tonian commenced in the stud at the age of 2 years and continued 

 till the age of 26*. Mr. William Day, writing in 1888 of the 

 English thoroughbred horses, says 5 : "The three best stallions this 

 generation has seen perhaps, indeed, the best ever seen are 

 Touchstone, Voltigeur, and Stockwell." These three stallions are 



(1) Man's Place in Nature, 1863, p. 34. 



(2) Anthropoid Apes, p. 248. 



(3) Mammalia, p. 23. 



(4) Helm, American Roadsters, p. 178. 



(5) The Horse, p. 214. 



