THE CLIMATE AB INITIO. 215 



mosphere in which the young is BOKN. I have, there- 

 fore, no doubt in my own mind, that if a mare was 

 kept out during the winter, and her colt dropped in 

 this situation, and so left, he would have given to 

 him the roots of a rougher and longer colt than one 

 where the mother was kept, and her colt dropped, in a 

 warmer temperature. It may be said, however rough 

 the mother or colt may be kept, that when the latter 

 as a horse is kept warm, his coat will become fine : 

 fine it certainly will comparatively become : but will 

 it become as fine as that of the one born and matured 

 in the warmer atmosphere ? We know that Northern 

 animals brought here lose a part of their shagginess : 

 the North American bear does ; but he is still a bear : 

 there are the roots of his shaggy covering still: those 

 roots were given in his youth, and are of a very 

 different description of course to those given to the 

 Ethiopian animal. We cannot, it is true, bring an 

 African or Asiatic climate here; but our hot-houses, 

 forcing-houses, or conservatories, show we can by 

 art do what quite answers (as a substitute) for the 

 vegetable kingdom : so we can, in a limited sense, for 

 the animal. The Arab colt is born in warmth ; the 

 seed or roots of a coat fitted for the atmosphere he is 

 destined to breathe in is given him : so are those of the 

 Cossack ; and I make no doubt but being born in a 

 mild or cold atmosphere lays the foundation in a very 

 great degree of the description of after-coat the horse 

 will carry. I do not mean he should be foaled or 

 kept in a hot-house ; but even that would be far 

 better than frost, snow, or keen winds. 



It may be urged, that, by bringing up a colt in 

 some measure in an artificial state, as in the case of 

 forcing him by corn, he might be rendered more sus- 



p 4 



