CHAPTER II. 



THE ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE HORSE. 



[Before commencing the perusal of the following chapters, the reader, and 

 particularly the young reader, is earnestly requested to turn back and read 

 the Introduction. It is believed that he will there find some highly useful 

 and important hints in regard to the manner of acquiring a full knowledge 

 of the contents of the work. — much of which, comparatively speaking, will 

 be but imperfectly understood by him, without attention to the rules there 

 laid down. — Am. Fd.]*- 



In his zoological classification, the Horse ranks under the divi- 

 sion vertebrata — ^the class mammalia — the tribe ungulata — the 

 order pachydermata — and the family solipeda. 



The solipeda consist of several sjoecies, as the horse, the ass, the 

 mule, and the quagga. 



First stands the Equus Caeallus, or Common Horse. 



The horse has six incisors or cutting teeth in the front of each 

 jaw ; and one canine tooth or tusk. 



On each side, above and below — at some distance from the 

 incisors, and behind the canines, and with some intervening 

 space — are six molar teeth, or grinders ; and these molar teeth 

 have flat crowns, with ridges of enamel, and that enamel pene- 

 trating into the substance of the tooth. 



The whole is thus represented by natural historians : — 



Horse. — Incisors^, canines — , molar - — -. Total, fort\ 

 .eeth. ^ -^ 1-1 ^-6 



♦ The work should be read through in course, ealier bemg f.^equentlj 

 D3ces?ary to explain later portions of it : and he who would derive the full 

 advantage of it, should never pass over a word without understanding its 

 signification. Many of the scientific terms admit of no substitutes — at least 

 without much and 'frequently recurring circumlocution — and their detinitiona 

 will usually be found in Webster's dictionary. These should be committed 

 to memory; and especially the names of the different parts and tissues. 

 Much less trouble of this kind is necessary, than would be supposed, to r 

 full understanding of the work. 



