1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



431 



THE ART OP TAMING HORSES. 



The London Illustrated Times is publishing 

 articles, by Rarey, the horse-tamer, in elucidation 

 of his theory. His method and principles are 

 substantially those, which, a few weeks ago, we 

 hinted they were most likely to be. He lays 

 down three cardinal facts, in relation to the horse, 

 on which he erects his theory. The first is that 

 the horse is so constituted by nature, that he will 

 not offer resistance to any demand made of him 

 which he fully comprehends, if made in a way 

 consistent with the laws of nature. In proof of 

 this he refers to the want of reason in the horse, 

 •which prevents that animal from resisting the 

 impositions constantly practised upon him. The 

 horse is so much stronger than man, that, if he 

 possessed the logical faculties, and was able, 

 therefore, to realize his advantages in a contest 

 with man, he would not submit to be driven, or 

 ridden, but would successfuly demand to be left 

 free to roam his favorite pastures. Happily for 

 us, the horse has no reason ; consequently no 

 consciousness of imposition ; and as a corollary, 

 no thought of disobedience, except impulsiveness, 

 when the law of his nature is violated. 



The second proposition is that the horse has 

 no consciousness of his strength beyond his ex- 

 perience, and that, accordingly, he can be handled 

 according to our Avill, without force. Every one 

 acquainted with horses knows the truth of the 

 first part of this proposition, and the latter part 

 follows logically from it. The third proposition 

 is that the horse will permit any object, however 

 frightful in appearance, to come around, over, or 

 on him, that does not inflict pain. When fear 

 exists from imagination, and not fi'om the in- 

 fliction of pain, that fear can be removed by show- 

 ing that there is no cause for the imaginary dan- 

 ger. A boy, who has been frightened by a false 

 face, or any other object that he cannot compre- 

 hend at once, will lose all his terrors if he handles 



is that it will entirely explode the old, cruel 

 methods of breaking, and introduce others more 

 consistent with humanity to the horse. Banch- 

 er's system of breaking dragoon horses, and 

 saddle horses generally, proceeds on the humane 

 principle. — Ph iladelphia Ledge)'. 



alarmed at any object on the road-side, coax him 

 up to it, let him stand by it and touch it with his 

 nose, and his flight will disappear. 



These are the principles of Mr. Rarey's theory. 

 They are founded on facts familiar to horsemen, 

 and which have been made use of by thousands. 

 The merit of Mr. Rarey consists not in the dis- 

 covery of these facts, not even in the acknowledg- 

 ment of them as principles, but in the very suc- 

 cessful manner in which he has put them into 

 operation. Many men may understand an art 

 theoretically, yet want the executive faculty to 

 practise it skilfully. There are persons who have 

 had to do with horses all their lives, without ac- 

 quiring as much control over them as others who 

 have just begun to manage them. Some people 

 have what we have heard called a magnetism in 

 this matter. But this magnetism, we take it, is 

 only a skilful executive. Mr. Rarey evidently 

 possesses this faculty in the highest perfection ; 

 and, without it, we suspect his theory would 

 practically be of little use. We have now the 

 explanation why many persons, who have taken 

 lessons of Mr. Rarey and his pupils, fall so far 

 short of the performances of their teachers. 

 \fter all, the great merit of Mr. Rarey's school 



ORIGIN OP BRANDY. 



Brandy began to be distilled in France about 

 the year 1313, but it was prepared only as a med- 

 icine, and was considered as possessing such 

 marvellous strengthening and sanitary powers 

 that the physicians named it "the water of life," 

 (I'eau de vie,) a name it still retains, though now 

 rendered, by excessive potations, one of life's 

 most powerful and prevalent destroyers. Ray- 

 mond Lully, a disciple of Arnold de Villa Nova, 

 considered this admirable essence of wine to be 

 an emanation from the Divinity, and that it was 

 intended to re-animate and prolong the life of 

 man. He even thought that this discovery indi- 

 cated that the time had arrived for the consum- 

 mation of all things — the end of the world. Be- 

 fore the means of determining the true quantity 

 of alcohol in spirits were known, the dealers were 

 in the habit of employing a very rude method of 

 forming a notion of the strength. A given quan- 

 tity of the spirits was poured upon a quantity of 

 gunpowder in a dish and set on fire. If at the 

 end of the combustion the gunpowder continued 

 dry enough, it exploded, but if it had been wet 

 by the water in the spirits, the flame of the al- 

 cohol went out without setting the powder on 

 fire. This was called the proof. Spirits which 

 kindled gunpowder were said to be above proof. 



From the origin of the terra "proof," it is ob- 

 vious that its meaning must at first have been 

 very indefinite. It could serve only to point out 

 those spirits which are too weak to kindle gun- 

 powder, but could not give any information res- 

 jjecting the relative strength of those spirits 

 " ~ " th of 



dby 

 quan- 



ty of weaker spirit might be made to kindle 

 gunpowder, while a greater quantity of a strong- 

 er might fail. Clark, in his hydrometer, which 

 was invented about the year 1730, fixed the 

 strength of proof spirits on the stem at the spe- 

 cific gravity of 0.920 at the temperature of GO de- 

 grees. This is the strength at which proof spir- 

 it is fixed in Great Britain by act of Parliament, 

 and at this strength it is no more than a mixture 

 of 49 pounds of pure alcohol with 51 pounds of 

 water. Brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey contain 

 nearly similar proportions. — Scientific American. 



Fires and Fire Systems. — Mr. Joseph 

 Bird, of Mount Auburn, has published a pam- 

 phlet of sixteen pages on this subject, which we 

 commend especially to all city and town authori- 

 ties, and to all the world beside. Mr. Bird is 

 far from being alone in the belief that our "Fire 

 Systems" are extravagantly expensive and ruin- 

 ous in their tendencies both to property and 

 men. Nearly all persons would believe this if 

 they were to read Mr. Bird's three chapters o« 

 the subject of Fires and Fire Systems. 



