CHAPTER VI. 



EXPERIMENTS AND THEIR VERIFICATION. 



I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



The difficulty of experiments of this sort lies in the fact that the 

 locomotion of the horse is a complex affair, and that the conditions 

 and causes from which this locomotion proceeds are very numerous. 

 In presenting the conclusions of such experiments it is hardly neces- 

 sary or feasible to give the original measurements as was done in a 

 previous chapter. The computations may be relied on as correct. With 

 all the opportunity, accuracy and perseverance at my command, all 

 my experiments were made with a view of drawing from them some 

 general principles applying to all cases. While David Roberge's 

 theory of pointing was used as a basis, there appeared in these experi- 

 ments certain discrepancies between it and my results, which at times 

 called for an independent line of reasoning. I believe that all ob- 

 servation and deduction in any investigation should be as free as pos- 

 sible from the influence of authority on that subject ; for, without the 

 right of independent thought or without a spirit of dissent for the sake 

 of the truth, no progress can well be realized. No authority should 

 be considered as entirely final or unassailable, even though it furnish 

 us with a certain guidance or mental discipline. We can, I believe, be 

 both critical and just at the same time, and this has been my endeavor 

 in dealing with the ingenious principles of Roberge. 



Granting, therefore, the assistance derived from the theory of 

 pointing, this investigation was nevertheless carried out to establish 

 facts not contained therein and to prove independently whether at all 

 times and under the same conditions the results would give a general 

 law. All repetitions of like effects from like causes must give such a 



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