2 THE HORSE. 



friend, and servant before the dawn of history. It 

 has accompanied him in his wanderings over almost 

 every part of the surface of the earth, performing 

 duties both in peace and war which no other animal 

 could have done, and giving Man facilities for the 

 exercise of dominion over nature which otherwise 

 would have been impossible to him. The role of the 

 ass, the ox, the camel, and the llama in performing 

 similar duties has been of a limited and subsidiary 

 nature compared to that of the horse. 



It is only in very recent times that the progress 

 of mechanical invention has begun to supersede 

 some of the uses for which the strength and the 

 speed of the horse for many thousands of years have 

 alone been available. How far this commencing dis- 

 establishment of the horse from its unique position 

 as the main agent by which man and his posses- 

 sions have been carried and drawn all over the face 

 of the earth will go, it is difficult to say at present. 



To the eye of the naturalist, the horse presents 

 other and still higher sources of interest. No better 

 example can be found in the whole range of the ani- 

 mal kingdom to illustrate certain great principles 

 found acting universally in the construction of the 

 bodies of all living beings, whether animals or plants. 

 The structure of the horse in relation to that of allied 

 animals and to the actions which it has to perform 



