THE ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE HORSE. iyi» 



On a journey, a liorse should be liberally supplied with water. When he 

 Is a little cooled, two or three quarts may be given to him, and after that, 

 his feed. Before he has finished his corn two or three quarts more may 

 be offered. He mil take no harm if this is repeated three or foui- times 

 during a long and hot day. 



It is a judicious rule with travellers, that when a horse begins to refuse 

 his food, he should be pushed no farther that day. It may, however, be 

 worth while to try wliether this does not proceed froin thirst, as much as 

 fi'om exhaustion, for in many instances his appetite and his spirits will 

 return soon after he has partaken of the refreshing draught. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE HORSE. 



There are so many thousand species of living beings, some so much 

 resembling each other, and others so strangely and altogether different, 

 that it would have been impossible to have arranged them in any order, 

 or to have given any description that could be understood, had not 

 naturalists agreed on certain peculiarities of form which should cha- 

 racterise ceriain classes, and other lesser peculiarities again subdividing 

 these classes. 



The first division of animals is into vertebrated and invertebrated. 



Verfebrcded animals are those which have a cranium, or bony cavity 

 containing the brain, and a succession of bones called the spine, and the 

 divisions of it named vertebrce, proceeding from the cranium, and containing 

 a pi'olongation of the brain, denominated the spitial marrow. 



Invertebrated animals are those which have no vertebrae. 



The horse, then, belongs to the division vertebrated, because he has a 

 cranium or skn 11, and a spine or range of vertebrte proceeding from it. 



The vertebrated animals are exceedingly numerous. They include man, 

 quadrupeds of all kinds, birds, fishes, and many reptiles. We naturally 

 look for some subdivision, and a very simple Ime of distinction is soon 

 presented. Certain of these vertebrated animals have ■mamince or teats, 

 with which the female suckle their young. The human female has two, 

 the mare has two, the cow fonr, the bitch ten or twelve, and the sow more 

 than twelve. 



This class of vertebrated animals ha\ang mammae or teats is called 

 mammalia ; and the horse belongs to the division vertebrata, and the class 

 mammalia. 



The class mammalia is still exceedingly lai-ge, and we must again sub- 

 divide it. It is stated (Library of Entertaining Knowledge, vol. i. p. 13) 

 that ' this class of quadi'upeds, or mammiferous quadrupeds, admits of a 

 division into two Tribes. 



'I. Those whose extremities are divided into fingers or toes, scienti- 

 fically called imrjuiculata, from the Latin word for nail ; and II. Those 

 whose extremities are hoofed, scientifically called nngulata, from the Latin 

 word for Jtoof. 



' The extremities of the first are armed with claws or nails, which 

 enable them to grasp, to climb, or to burrow. The extremities of the 

 second tribe are employed merely to support and move the body.' 



The extremities of the horse are covered with a hoof by which the body 

 is supported, and ivith which he cannot grasp anything, and therefore lie 

 belongs to the tribe ungulata or hoofed. 



But there is a great variety of hoofed animals. The elephant, the 



