PROPORTIONS. 7$ 



It may be as well here to append some explanation 

 with reference to the selection of the head of the horse as 

 the unit of measurement. This decision arose from the 

 necessity of finding the best-defined and most applicable 

 method of measurement. 



About a century ago (1785) Vincent wrote on the 

 subject, pointing out to Bacheliez, professor of the 

 academy of painting, that this selection was a reminis- 

 cence, dating from the ancients, who had taken the 

 human head for the purpose of measuring the rest of the 

 body. As a matter of fact, no length is better limited 

 and more suitable to serve as a basis for comparison in 

 each individual case and for a positive value in the total 

 length of the scale pertaining to the individual. 



Animals, like men, present variations of form attribut- 

 able to the soil, nutrition and habits. Thence should be 

 drawn the deduction that an animal which is perfect in 

 the dimensions of all portions of the body, as is desired, 

 would be an ideal type, the beauties in detail of which are 

 scattered in the mass of individuals. Naturally, the one 

 uniting the greatest number attains nearest to perfection. 



But the matter ceases to be ideal if by far the larger 

 number of subjects examined present the special dimen- 

 sions of a selected fraction, and that constantly in the same 

 relation to some other measurement of another portion 

 of the same individual. It is this repetition, found in a 

 very large number of experiments, which permits me to 

 positively assert, in agreement with our first masters, 

 that the length of the head is always the best compara- 

 tive unit. 



When measuring a horse, it is preferable that it should 

 stand in a natural position, namely that the direction of 

 the head should be parallel to that of the shoulder, a 

 parallel which should be again found in the pasterns of 

 the anterior members, in the same way as the inclination 

 of the femur is that desirable for the posterior pasterns. 

 I am speaking of an animal in a free position, not com- 

 pelled either to assume a pose or to be gathered together. 



A photograph, of which I have copied the profile, 

 will serve for my demonstration. The animal is as high 

 as it is long. 



Our comparative unit, the head, is again found almost 



