92 > THE HORSE. 



thus, by suffering the impression to remain longer on the retina, or by 

 some portion of light reflected from this variegated bed on which the 

 retma reposes, or in some other inexplicable but efficient way, enabling the 

 animal, even in comparative darkness, to possess a power of vision equal to 

 his wants. 



The reader may see in the dusk, or even when duskiness is fast yielding 

 to utter darkness, the beautiful sea-green reflection from the eye of the horse. 

 It is that lucid, variegated carpet of which we are now speaking. 



Who is unaware that, in the fading glimmering of the evening, and even 

 in the darker shades of night, his horse can see surrounding objects much 

 better than his rider? and who, resigning himself to the guidance of that 

 sagacious and faithful animal, has not been carried in safety to his journey's 

 end, when he would otherwise have been bewildered ? 



If our reader has not seen this beautiful pigment in the eye of the horse, 

 we would entreat him to take the earliest opportunity of examining it, and 

 he will be convinced what care that Being, who gave all things life, has 

 taken that each shall be fitted for his situation. The horse has not the 

 intelligence of man, and may not want, for any purpose of pleasure or 

 improvement, the vivid picture of surrounding objects, which the retina of 

 the human being presents. A thousand minute, but exquisite, beauties 

 would be lost upon him. He has not the faculty to appreciate, or to 

 profit by them. If, therefore, his sense of vision may not be so strong 

 during the day, it is made up to him by the increased power of vision in 

 the dark. 



Perfectly white and cream-coloured horses have a peculiar appearance 

 of the eyes : the pupil is red instead of black. They have no black paint 

 or brilliant carpet. It is the choroid coat itself which we see in them, and 

 not its covering: and the red appearance is caused by the numerous blood- 

 vessels which are found on every part of that coat. 



When we come to treat of other domestic animals, we shall tell how this 

 carpet is varied in colour, to suit the situation and necessity of each. In 

 the ox, it is of a dark green. He has not many enemies to fear, nor much 

 difficulty in searching for nourishment, and the colour of the eye is adapted 

 to his food. In the cat, and all his varieties, it is yellow. We have heard 

 of the eyes of the lion appearing like two flaming torches in the night. It 

 is the reflection of the little light about him, concentrated on the yellow 

 carpet. There are few of our readers who have not seen the same singular 

 glare from the eyes of the domestic cat. In the wolf, and likewise in the 

 dog, who, in his wild state, prowls chiefly at night, it is grey. In the poor, 

 unjustly persecuted badger, who scarcely dares to crawl forth at night, 

 although sheltered by the thickest darkness, it is white ; and the ferret, who 

 is destined to hunt his prey through all its winding retreats, and in what 

 would be to us absolute darkness, has no paint on the choroides. 



Tracing the choroides towards the fore part of the eye, we perceive that 

 it is reflected from the side to the edge of the lens, n, and has the appear- 

 ance of several plaits or folds : they are actually foldings of the membrane. 

 It is not diminished in size, but it has less space to cover, and, therefore, 

 there must be these duplicatures or plaits: they are very usefully employed 

 in the place in which we find them : they prevent the passage of any ravs 

 of light on the outside of the lens, and wtiich, proceeding forward in various 

 directions, and uncondensed by the power of the lens, would render vision 

 confused or imperfect. These folds of the choroides are called the ciliary 

 processes. 



Of ihe last and innermost coat of the eye, the retitia, for which all the 



