334 FAMILY EQUUXE; HORSE. 



rudiments of another toe are present on either side as splint- 

 bones ( 254), thus making four in all. This is one of the 

 monstrosities or irregular formations, which often enables us to 

 determine the real nature of an organ, when its character has 

 been so changed as to obscure it. The group of single-hoofed 

 Pachyderms contains only one family, the EQUID^, or Horse 

 tribe ; and the members of this resemble each other so closely, 

 as to render it almost doubtful whether they ought not to be 

 all arranged under the same genus. They all agree in 

 their dentition, possessing six incisors in each jaw, and 

 six molars above and below on either side; the molars have 

 square crowns, with crescentic ridges of enamel. The males 

 have also two small canines in the upper jaw, and sometimes in 

 both ; these are wanting in the female. Between the canines 

 and the first molar, there is a wide space, corresponding with 

 the angle of the lips; it is in this that the bit is placed, by which 

 alone Man has been able to subdue these powerful quadrupeds. 



300. The Horse is thought by some to deserve to rank as a 

 genus distinct from the Ass, Zebra, &c. ; on account of the 

 entire tail being covered with long hair, instead of the tip only ; 

 and also because the colour of the hair which clothes the body 

 has a tendency to vary in spots or patches, instead of in stripes. 

 But these are differences which, in other families, would not be 

 thought to separate even species very widely. Our ignorance of 

 the original stock of the Horse prevents this question from being 

 positively determined. It was domesticated at a very early 

 period, and was used especially in war and on state occasions. 

 The Egyptians are usually believed to have been its first tamers, 

 on account of the mention made of the Horse, as taken in ex- 

 change by Joseph for the corn which he sold* ; but as we subse- 

 quently readt of Horses as possessed and used in war by the 

 Canaanitish nations, the domestication of the race must have 

 been extensive, even in those remote times. As far back as the 

 records of profane history conduct us, we find the Scythians 

 possessed of Horses, and celebrated as Horsemen ; and when 

 Caesar invaded Britain, he found himself opposed by horsemen 



* Genesis, xlvii. 17. t Joshua, xi. 4. 



