THE HORSE IOI 



the reason that fuel is less costly than horse feed. An 

 interesting instance to show how far mechanical inventions 

 have taken the place of horsed wagons in the work of 

 civilized communities was afforded by the horse distemper 

 which swept over the country in 1872. During the week 

 or more in which this epidemic was at the worst, the State of 

 Massachusetts was practically unhorsed, yet the greater part 

 of the necessary business, that required to bring provisions 

 to the town, was effected by means of the railways. The 

 same incident shows, however, in another way, how absolutely 

 necessary this animal is, in certain parts of our work. For 

 the great Boston fire, which occurred at that time, was 

 doubtless due to the fact that, owing to the sickness of the 

 horses, an effort was made to drag the engines by hand- 

 power, with the result that they came upon the ground so 

 slowly as to give the fire a chance to become an uncontrollable 

 conflagration. 



In the present state of our arts there is one great occupa- 

 tion which we cannot conceive to be carried on without the 

 services of horses. This is war. It is hardly too much to 

 say that all our highly elaborated military system has 

 depended for its development, as it does for its maintenance, 

 on the transportation value of horses. Much has been said 

 of late as to the use of bicycles as adjuncts to armies, and in 

 a certain limited way they will doubtless prove serviceable in 

 future campaigns ; but no one who has had any experience 

 of military du'cY, with its work across tilled fields and 

 through forests, can imagine a man on a wheel rendering 

 any very effective service except under peculiar conditions. 

 Moreover, no ordnance corps can do its appointed work in 

 the rear of a line of battle without sending its wagons across 



