212 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ehipment to London. It is made up in the shape 

 and size of soap bars, and so powerful is the 

 compression employed that the original peat is 

 hardly to be recognized in the blaclt and metallic 

 looking mass which the machine perfects. The 

 properties of this fuel are found to be highly ad- 

 vantageous in the branches of manufactures 

 above referred to, and its great economy is evi- 

 denced in the reduced price at which cutlery 

 wrought with it is offered for sale. Sheffield 

 razors, bearing the mark '• peat compressed," 

 have been on sale this year throughout the coun- 

 try, we have been informed, as low as 27s. per 

 dozen. We look for a rapid extension of the 

 use of this valuable invention of Lord Willough- 

 by's, not only as offering the means of procuring 

 for the inhabitants an abundant supply of a more 

 cleanly and useful fuel thafi they have hitherto, 

 from their inland situation, been able to obtain, 

 but opening up to them a profitable branch of in- 

 dustry, for which the field is nearly as inexhausti- 

 ble ae that of the material. . 



CROELTY TO HORSES. THE HAWS AND THE 

 LAMPAS. 



31arch Uth, 1841. 



The present communication will consist of a 

 word or two in behalf of the hor?e. Although he 

 is acknowledged on all hands to be lar the most 

 useful of all the brute creation ever yet domesti- 

 cated by man, I believe it may truly be said, that 

 none are so cruelly and barbarously treated as the 

 horse. Hardships and bodily sufferings excrutiat- 

 ing in degree, and utterly useless to ourselves, 

 are often most wantonly inflicted on him. He is 

 frequently deprived of his ears and tail, by an ex- 

 cessively painful operation, merely to gratify a 

 most preposterous, absurd, and inhuman lashion ; 

 he is olten killed or crippled in our selfish and sin- 

 ful struggles to win each other's money by racing, 

 or in working him lar beyond his powers- to iii- 

 crease our wealth, or in the idle, ridiculous amuse- 

 ment of moving our precious persons from place 

 to place with more rapidity than any of our sense- 

 less rivals in the same sport have ever done be- 

 fore. But still worse, still more brutal than all, 

 after the faithful animal has entirely worn out and 

 exhausted, in his ungrateful master's service, all 

 the energies which nature had given him, and is 

 no longer capable of any kind of work whatever, 

 he is turned adrilt, to die of old age and starva- 

 tion! Would not those who act thus brutally to 

 horses, treat their fellow men in the same way, if 

 public sentiment had not stamped such conduct to- 

 wards human beings with the indelible stigma of 

 utter detestation and abhorrence 7 



The foregoing are all cases of undeniable, enor- 

 mous barbarity, which, however shocking to our 

 humanity, are not to be cured either by persua- 

 sion or reproof; for the perpetrators, generally, 

 are persons liar beyond the reach of any moral ap- 

 pliances whatever. But there are some instances 

 wherein the horse is cruelly treated, not from 

 design, nor mere disregard to his wants and well- 

 being, but from sheer ignorance. The most re- 

 markable of these instances is, the quack-remedy 

 for two diseases to which the horse is liable. 



These are the *'Aat«s," vulgarly but improperly 

 called ^^hooks,^^ (for there is no such word in 

 any scientific book of farriery,) and the ^Ham- 

 ;)as." The first takes its name from the ^'haw," 

 of which the following account is given in that 

 excellent treatise on the horse, published by the 

 English Society tor the Diffusion of Useful Know- 

 ledge. 



"We have, (says the author,) a provision for 

 supplying the eye with the requisite moisture, and 

 for washing from off the transparent part of it 

 insects or dust which may annoy the animal. 

 What becomes of these impurities when thus 

 washed off? Are they carried by the tears to 

 the corner of the eye, and so pass down this duct, 

 and irritate and obstruct it; or do they accumulate 

 at the inner angle of the eye? There is a beauti- 

 ful contrivance for disposing of them as fast as 

 they enter the eye. Concealed within the inner 

 corner of the eye, or only the margin of it, black 

 or pied, visible is a triangular shaped cartilage, 

 the haw, with lis broad part before. It is con- 

 cave within, exactly to suit the globe of the eye; 

 and it is convex without, accurately to adapt itself 

 to the membrane lining the lid ; and the base of 

 It is reduced to a thin or almost sharp edge. At 

 the will of the animal, this is suddenly protruded 

 from its hiding place, passes rapidly over the eye, 

 and shovels up everj' nuisance mixed with the 

 tears, and then, being speedily drawn back, the 

 dust or insect is wiped off" as the cartilage again 

 passes under the corner of the eye. 



"How is this managed? This cartilage has no 

 muscle attached to it, and the limbs, and the dif- 

 ferent parts of the body, when put into motion by 

 the influence of the will, are moved invariably by 

 muscles. The mechanism is simple and effectu- 

 al. There is a great mass of fat at the back of 

 the eye, -and the eye may be easily moved; and 

 this lat is particularly accumulated about the inner 

 corner of the eye, and beneath, and at the point 

 of this cartilage. The eye of the horse has like- 

 wise very strong muscles attached to it, and one, 

 peculiar to quadrupeds, of extraordinary power, 

 and by whose aid, if the animal has not hands to 

 ward off a danger that threatens, he is at least 

 enabled to draw the eye back almost out of the 

 reach of that danger. 



"Dusi, or gravel, or insects, shall have entered 

 the eye, and annoy the horse. This peculiar 

 muscle suddenly acts. The eye is forcibly drawn 

 back, and presses upon the fatty matter. That 

 may be displaced, but cannot be squeezed into 

 less compass. It is forced violently towards the 

 inner corner of the eye, and it drives before it the 

 haw ; and the haw having likewise some fat about 

 the point of it, and being placed between the eye 

 and an exceedingly smooth and polished bone, 

 and being pressed upon by the eye as it is vio- 

 lently drawn back, shoots out with the rapidity of 

 lightning, and, guided by the eyelids, projects over 

 the eye, and thus carries off' the offending matter. 



In what way shall we draw the haw back with- 

 out muscular action? Another principle is called 

 into play, of which we have already spoken, and 

 of which we shall have much to say — elasticity. 

 It is that principle by which a body yields to a 

 certain force impressed upon it, and returns to its 

 former state as soon as that force is removed. It 

 is that by which the ligament of the neck, while 

 it aupports the head, enables the horse to graze, 



