180 BITS AND BITTING. 



form and proportions of the mouthpiece must be de- 

 duced wholly from the interior conformation of that 

 part of the mouth on which it is intended to act, and 

 these are, the tongue in the centre and the bars of the 

 mouth on each side. It has been already pointed out 

 that the relative hardness or softness of the mouth, 

 so far as this depends on the conformation of this 

 organ itself, is a consequence of the greater or less 

 thickness of the tongue, and the greater or less sharp- 

 ness and sensitiveness of the bars. The soft fleshy 

 tongue is, of course, much less sensitive to pres- 

 sure than the bony bars; covered only with a very 

 thin membrane ; and consequently, if we used a per- 

 fectly straight unjointed mouthpiece of a moderate 

 thickness, this resting w^holly on the animal's tongue 

 would, notwithstanding a certain amount of lever ac- 

 tion, be the very lightest form of bit tliat could be 

 well devised ; in fact, a good snaffle w^ould, on account 

 of the joint, be more powerful. On the other hand, if 

 by means of what is called a " port" we remove all 

 pressure from the tongue and transfer it to the pecu- 

 liarly sensitive bars, we obtain, with precisely the same 

 amount of lever action as before, a much greater 

 amount of power — in fact, the sharpest form of bit that 

 it is generally advisable to use. Now between these 

 two extremes there is a wide range, and the whole art 

 of bitting consists, so far as the mouthpiece goes, in 

 determining hov/ much of the pressure shall fall on 

 thejtongue and how much on the bars, and we are 

 thus enabled, by means of an almost infinite system 

 of gradations, to obtain exactly the degree of action 

 required in each particular instance by the nature of 

 the service we demand, whatever the relative thick- 



