472 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



observation and experience, mountains of evidence, so to speak,, 

 heaped upon us, going to show that "acquired character and in- 

 stincts" are transmitted and become hereditary. 



Dr. Pritchard, in his "Natural History of Man," gives the 

 following illustration on this point: 



"Two other very important observations made by M. Roulin, in 

 South America, were pointed out by M. Geoffrey St. Hillaire, in his report 

 to the Academy of Sciences. They refer to the fact of the hereditary 

 transmission of habits originally impressed with care and art upon the 

 ancestors. Of this fact I will adduce other examples in the sequel; at present 

 I only advert to M. Roulin's observations. The horses bred on the grazing 

 farms of the table-lands of the Cordillera are carefully taught a peculiar pace, 

 which is a sort of running amble. This is not their natural mode of progres- 

 sion, but they are inured to it very early, and the greatest pains are taken to 

 prevent them from moving in any other gait; in this way the acquired habit 

 becomes a second nature. It happens occasionally that such horses becoming 

 lame, or no longer fit for use, it is then customary to let them loose, if they 

 happen to be well grown stallions, into the pasture grounds It is constantly 

 observed that these horses become the sires of a race to which the ambling 

 pace is natural, and which requires no teaching. The fact is so well known 

 that such colts have received a particular name; they are termed ' aguilillas."* 



The fact that there were some pacers in South America came* 

 tome from many sources, and especially from gentlemen of in- 

 telligence and character who had spent years in that country, and 

 was for a long time a puzzle to me. All the evidences of history 

 went to show that the horse stock of South America was Spanish, 

 and no evidence could be found that the Spanish horse was a- 

 pacer, or that there was any tendency to pace in the blood of the 

 Spanish horse. This report to the French Academy of Sciences- 

 was made in the early part of this century and is really the first 

 information I have ever had of Spanish horses pacing. Dr. Pritch- 

 ard was one of the earlier modern writers on natural history 

 and stands very high as a man of conscience as well as learning. 

 The surprising feature in this South American experience is the 

 wide and, apparently, immediate measure of success that seems 

 to have followed the training to the pacing gait in its transmis- 

 sion. It may be taken as a rule that the changing of the gait 

 from the diagonal to the lateral, or vice versa, is a slow process, 

 and it seems to me that with few exceptions it would require 

 several generations before the new habit of action would become 

 fixed in the breed. It is just possible, however, that there may 



