WILD HORSES. 257 



to our present horse as the diluvial members of the European family 

 did. Forsyth Mayor shows that Equus stenonis of the quateruaries 

 of Upper Italy contains all the intermediary stages between Hippariom 

 and Equus. Schmidt continues the argument on this important 

 subject, on which he is not always quite clear, by drawing attention to 

 Goethe's observations on the backward position of the eye in the 

 horses of the Parthenon ; they are far back against the ear, and, says 

 Goethe, this was, though the artist may not have known it, the 

 condition present in the primeval horse.* It must be remarked, 

 however, that evidence tends to show that of the cave horses some 

 had eyes far back and some in the position of those of the present 

 day. These cave horses were useful to man but not domesticated ; 

 they lived in the reindeer period, and found their most deadly foe 

 in man, who pursued and killed them fur flesh food. As yet all 

 conclusions as to their make and shape seem to be derived from the 

 work of a Landseer of the stone period, who drew a picture of a 

 man, horse, and a mammoth in recognizable outlines on pieces of 

 ivory. The horse seems rather a small one and has a bio- head. 

 This curious record of art in the nursery stages of the world's 

 history must not be considered from the severely artistic point of 



* Youatt's views on conformation of the Parthenon horses will be read with interest 

 as bearing on the text : — 



" There is a considerable difference in the form and action of the two horses. The 

 right hand one, and the foremost of the two, is sadly defective in the portions of the 

 foreaims which we are permitted to see. The near one is poorly supplied with muscle. 

 The off horse is out of all keeping. The large ears placed so low ; the clumsy swelling 

 of the lower part of the neck ; the bad union of it with the breast ; the length and 

 thinness of the barrel compared with the bulk of the fore parts, notwithstanding the 

 natural and graceful position of the hind legs, show no little want of skill in the 

 statuary. The more animated head of the left and hiuder horte, the inflated nostril 

 the opening of the mouth, the form and prominence of the eye, and the laying of the 

 ears, sufficiently confirm the accounts which we have of the spirit — sometimes un- 

 tameable — of the primitive horses. The neck, however, is to short, even for one with 

 these immense forehands ; it springs badly out of the chest, the shoulder is very defec- 

 tive ; but the forearms, their expression aud their position, are exceedingly good ; the 

 long forearms and short leg are excellent; and so are the off fetlock and foot ; but the 

 barrel is deficient, the carcase is leagthy, and the hind quarters are weak compared 

 with the forearms. The beautful execution of the riders * * * shows that they were 

 portraits, as probably the hoises were to a very great extent. These animals remind 

 us of some of the heavy ones of tha present d ly particularly ; they have the beauties 

 and defects of many of the modern Holstein horses ; they arc high, but perhaps heavy 

 actioned ; courageous, sprited, possibly fierce. They exhibit the g«rms of many 

 future improvemente, and, taken altogether, may be examined with considerable 

 pleasure, remembering that they are horses of nearly 2,300 years ago. Art has done 

 much for the horse since that period, but the countenance and figure of the human 

 being were at that time perfect. These horsemen have not even the switch to guide 

 the animal ; but they are holding by the mane with the left hand, and are evidently 

 directing the horse by pulling the mane, or pressing the neck with the right hand 

 a little higher up." 



It looks more as if the mane were not held at all, but guidance made by pressure 

 with the forefinger of either hand on the corresponding side of the neck. Youatt 

 seems slow in giving the artist credit for as much faithfulness in representation of 

 the horses as of _ the men ; of courre, he may not havd been an " animal " artist. 



