70 HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



tightened or slackened like the twitch. The bit is a most 

 ingenious attempt to grasp the lower jaw by the same parts 

 with the capability of contracting or perfectly relaxing the 

 grasp, by the application or withdrawal of the powers of the 

 lever. This is the intended action of the bit — the philoso- 

 pher's stone, after which all bit-projectors and makers have 

 laboured. The obstacles to be overcome are various and 

 perhaps insuperable — and, indeed, could the powers of the 

 lever be employed on such exquisitely tender parts as the 

 bars, when within this iron vice, I think no hand could be 

 sufficiently delicate to use them. By pressing your finger-nail 

 against your own gums, you may form some idea of the agony 

 such an implement would have the power of giving to a horse. 

 Anything approaching to harsh, hard handling with it, would 

 drive him desperate, and force him to throw himself over 

 backwards. The idea of lifting his weight by such parts 

 grasped with iron is absurd ; still more preposterously bar- 

 barous that of arresting the headlong impetus of a falling 



