NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 83 



and are so many proofs of admirable design for the purposes 

 to which man lias applied him ; for, without these peculiarities, 

 he would not be so valuable and superior, as a beast of con- 

 tinued and rapid motion, and would consequently occupy a very 

 inferior station. 



Linnreus asserted that the male horse was without the rudi- 

 mentary mamma invariably found in the males of other animals; 

 but this naturalist was mistaken, for they may be seen on each 

 side of the sheath, and, although of no possible use, still their 

 existence preserves the uniformity of nature's operations. 



The horse and zebra possess horny callosities on the inside 

 of the fore-legs, above the knees, and on the hocks of the hind- 

 legs ; the ass and the quagga have them only on the fore ex- 

 tremities. 



In a state of nature, the horse is purely a herbivorous animal, 

 but under the restraint which domestication imposes, his habits 

 become changed, and grain and dry grasses form the principal 

 articles of his diet. Domestication is known t j originate many 

 diseases totally unknown in a natural state, but it appears to 

 have the effect of augmenting the muscular power of the animal 

 far beyond its uncultivated state. 



It may be remarked, in addition to what has been previously 

 said as to the limit of lift allotted to the horse, that there is some 

 difficulty in estimating the natural average length of his life, since 

 many obstacles oppose an inquiry on a scale of sufficient mag- 

 nitude to be satisfactory. The numerous evils entailed on him 

 by the arduous labors and the r stricted and unnatural habits 

 of a domesticated state tend gr iatly to abbreviate life. From 

 these and other reasons, it cannot be much doubted that his age 

 is greatly underrated. Horses are most erroneously termed 



