THE HORSE. 3 



he gets on his hands, of the convenience and comfort 

 of a more horny texture of skin. 



If it were customary for people, upon being taken 

 into any kind of employment, to be " warranted/' could 

 a man with these hard hands be warranted sound, i.e., 

 in a natural state, or capable of doing his work properly ? 

 Nevertheless, though deviating from nature, the horny 

 hand is best adapted to hard work. 



When the hands of a man had never done hard 

 manual labour, but had always been employed in 

 writing, his skin would remain unaltered, thin, and 

 tender, and he would be adjudged sound, in conse- 

 quence of his not deviating from nature ; but his hands 

 must undergo an alteration of structure before he could 

 earn his food by ploughing or digging. It is not, 

 therefore, the training alone, but the altered structure 

 consequent thereon, that is required ; yet no one will 

 deny that the adapted structure is the most valuable for 

 performing the requisite labour. Deviations equally 

 slight or unimportant should not vitiate a warranty 

 in horse-flesh. Such vitiation, is, however, often 

 attempted, leading to enormous expense, tedious liti- 

 gation, and frequently the breaking-up of long-esta- 

 blished friendships, every one of which evils might be 

 easily prevented by a thorough understanding of the 

 subject I would elucidate. The works on the soundness 

 and unsoundness of horses that have hitherto come 

 under my notice have been, for the most part, compila- 



