THE HEAD AND NECK. 151 



but directly this ceases to return it to the position 

 best suited for a state of repose. 



Probably, if those who have to do with the har- 

 nessing of horses were better acquainted with this 

 admirable mechanical apparatus for holding up the 

 head in a natural and unstrained position, they would 

 think it less necessary to supplement the cervical 

 ligament by an external contrivance for effecting 

 the same object, called the " bearing-rein," which, 

 however, not being elastic, never allows the head, 

 even momentarily, to be altered in position • which 

 is generally fixed so tightly as to interfere greatly 

 with the natural graceful curve of the neck, one of 

 the horse's chief beauties ; and which, being attached 

 at one end through the tender corners of the mouth, 

 must, if short enough to effect the object for which 

 it is used, be a continual source of pain or irritation 

 to the animal. 



Of the numerous petty cruelties practiced by man 

 upon the domestic animals in obedience to the dic- 

 tates of fashion or custom, or out of mere thought- 

 lessness, the use of the bearing-rein as a regular part 

 of the harness of a carriage or cart-horse is one of 

 the least excusable. We may, notwithstanding all 

 the protests of the sensible, continue, from the same 

 motives, to deform and injure our own feet by pointed 



shoes, and our own waists by tight lacing, but we 

 11 



