viii Preface 



This proves to be a far more fascinating 

 subject than any of us suspected a few 

 years ago. Darwin, in treating of the or- 

 igin of the horse, among other animals, 

 did not give the Arab an especially dis- 

 tinct rank. Other writers, such as the 

 distinguished French anatomist Sansan, 

 have pointed out the important dif- 

 ferences in the structure of the Arab, 

 but have not fully sustained the theory of 

 its separateness. It remained for Pro- 

 fessor William Ridgeway of Cambridge 

 University to write what will prove to be 

 an epoch-making book on the natural 

 history of the Arab, since it forces the 

 question of the entire separateness of the 

 Arab breed, as a breed produced by 

 nature before domestication by man, and 

 entirely separate from the Northern horses 

 of Europe. 



This raises two great questions : 

 Did the Arab horses spring from wild 

 horses entirely distinct from other wild 

 horses and superior in structure from 

 other wild horses? 



