G2 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



by his own natural instincts, and without any mechanical force, to 

 hold his head in such a position that the bit shall act properly upon 

 his mouth. Inside of each blinker he places a sort of leather fan, 

 called a lunette d\in\t, which opens or shuts at pleasure by means 

 of a safety rein. When developed, it only partially blinds the 

 horse, and it is in the natural action of the horse to avail himself of 

 the sight left him that the virtue of the system consists. If he 

 throws up his head to run away, and the lunette is opened, he can 

 see nothing but the sky, and he then inevitably brings his head down 

 to the proper position in order that he may see straight before him. 

 If, on the contrary, the habit of the horse be to escape the action of 

 the bit by curving his neck tilt the chin almost touches his breast, the 

 apparatus may be so adjusted as to prevent him from seeing anything 

 but the ground, and he naturally raises his head. Thus the lunette 

 acts both as a bearing-rein and a martingale, but more certainly, 

 and without the dangers and inconveniences of those contrivances. 

 For horses addicted to shying, the apparatus is particularly useful. 

 As soon as the horse pricks his ears to shy at any object lying in the 

 road, the driver has only to raise the lunette, and the animal, seeing 

 only the distant horizon, and nothing immediately about him, will go 

 by or even right through the thing which frightened him without taking 

 the least notice. At an exhibition on the Champs de Mars in Paris, 

 horses went unhesitatingly through the flames and smoke of lighted 

 lumps of straw, which but a moment before, when the lunettes were 

 folded, they could not be made to approach. 



The apparatus is intended chiefly for horses in harness, but there 

 is a form of it adapted for saddle-horses. Of course a hard-mouthed 

 horse cannot unfailingly be prevented from running away merely by 

 the use of this lunette, but a great deal is done towards diminishing 

 the danger when his head is got into a proper position, because he 

 will then surely be pulled up before long, and in the meanwhile the 

 driver can guide him. 



ARTIFICIAL HOOFS FOR HORSES. 



It is impossible to calculate the various useful purposes to which 

 gutta percha may be applied. One of the most ingenious applica- 

 tions recently made of this valuable substance, is that of making 

 artificial hoofs for horses' feet. Many ingenious devices have been 

 resorted to, to attain this result, but the adoption of gutta percha 

 will, doubtless, supersede all others, as soon as its efficacy becomes 

 recognized. What is required by the veterinary surgeon, is a sub- 

 stance possessing the consistence of horn, to retain the nails of the 

 shoe; that will readily soften by heat, so as to mould itself to the 

 required form ; that it be indissoluble in water, seeing that the horse's 

 hoof is generally in contact with moisture ; and, lastly, that it be capa- 

 ble of uniting perfectly with the hoof. No known substance pos- 

 sesses all these qualities except gutta percha. For the purpose 

 under consideration it is prepared by being cut into fragments the 

 size of a nut and softened in hot water ; the pieces are then mixed 

 with half their weight of powdered sal-ammoniac, and melted together 

 in a tinned saucepan over a gentle fire, keeping the mass well stirred ; 



