No. 5. 



Insanity of the Horse. 



157 



Insanity of the Horse. 



There is no doubt that the animals which 

 we have subjugated, possess many of the 

 same faculties as the human being- — volition, 

 memory, attachment, gratitude, resentment, 

 fear, and hatred. Who has not witnessed 

 the plain and manifest display of these prin- 

 ciples and feelings in our quadruped depend- 

 ants? The simple possession of these facul- 

 ties, implies that they may be used for pur- 

 poses good or bad, and that, as in the human 

 being, they may be deranged or destroyed 

 by a multitude of causes which it is not ne- 

 cessary to particularize. In the quadruped 

 as in the biped, the lesion or destruction of 

 a certain part of the brain, may draw after 

 it the derangement, or disturbance, or per- 

 version of a certain faculty. It is only be- 

 cause the faculties, and good as well as bad 

 properties of the inferior beings, have been 

 eo lately observed and acknowledged, that 

 any doubt on this point can for a moment be 

 entertained. The disordered actions, the 

 fury, the caprices, the vices, and more par- 

 ticularly the frenzy and total abandonment 

 of itself, which are occasionally shown by 

 the brute, are analogous to certain acts of 

 insanity in man. 



The reader is indebted to Professor Rodet, 

 of Toulouse, for the anecdotes which follow: 

 A horse, seven years old, was remarkable 

 for an habitual air of stupidity, and a pecu- 

 liar wandering expression of countenance. 

 When he saw anything that he had not been 

 accustomed to, or heard any sudden or un- 

 usual noise, whether it was near or at a dis- 

 tance, or sometimes when his corn was 

 thrown into the manger without the precau- 

 tion of speaking to him or patting him, he 

 was frightened to an almost incredible de- 

 gree ; he recoiled precipitately, every limb 

 trembled, and he struggled violently to es- 

 cape. After several useless efforts to get 

 away, he would work himself into the high- 

 est degree of rage, so that it was dangerous 

 to approach him. This state of excitement 

 was followed by dreadful convulsions, which 

 did not cease until he had broken his halter, 

 or otherwise detached himself from his tram- 

 mels. He would then become calm, and 

 suffer himself to be led back to his stall: nor 

 would anything more be seen but an almost 

 continual inquietude, and a wandering and 

 stupid expression of countenance. He had 

 belonged to a brutal soldier, who had beaten 

 him shamefully, and before which lime he 

 had been perfectly quiet and tractable. 



A Piedmontese officer possessed a beauti- 

 ful, and in other respects serviceable mare, 

 but which one peculiarity rendered exceed- 

 ingly dangerous — that was a decided aver- 



sion to paper, which she recognized the mo- 

 ment she saw it, and even in the dark if two 

 leaves were rubbed together. The effect 

 produced by the sight or sound of it, was so 

 prompt and violent, that she several times 

 unhorsed her rider. She had not the slight- 

 est fear of objects that would terrify most 

 horses. She regarded not the music of the 

 band, the whistling of the balls, the roaring 

 of the cannon, the fire of the bivouacs, or 

 the glittering of arms. The confusion and 

 noise of an engagement made no impression 

 upon her; the sight of no other white object 

 affected her. No other sound was regarded; 

 but the view or the rustling of paper roused 

 her to madness. 



A mare was perfectly manageable and be- 

 trayed no antipathy to the human being, nor 

 to other animals, nor to horses, except they 

 were of a light-grey colour; but the moment 

 she saw a grey horse, she rushed towards it, 

 and attacked it with tlie greatest fury. It 

 was the same at all times, and everywhere. 

 She was all that could be wished on the pa- 

 rade, on the route, in the ranks, in action, 

 and in the stable ; but if she once caught a 

 glimpse of a grey or white horse, she rested 

 not until she had thrown her rider or broken 

 her halter, and then she rushed on her im- 

 agined foe with the greatest fury. She 

 generally contrived to seize the animal by 

 the head or throat, and held him so fast that 

 she would suffocate him, if he were not 

 promptly released from her bite. 



Another mare exhibited no terror except 

 of white inanimate objects, as white mantles 

 or coats, and particularly white plumes. She 

 would fly from them if she could; but if she 

 was unable to accomplish this, she would 

 rush furiously upon them, strike at them 

 with her fore feet, and tear them with her 

 teeth. 



These instances are selected from various 

 others, because they approach so nearly to 

 what would be termed insanity in the hu- 

 man being. It is confined to one object, — 

 it is a species of monomania, and as decided 

 insanity as ever the biped discovered. One 

 of these horses, the second, was by long and 

 kind attention divested of this insane terror, 

 and became perfectly quiet and useful ; but 

 the other three bid defiance to all means of 

 cure and to coercion among the rest. If 

 sufficient attention were paid to the subject, 

 many of the obstinate caprices and inexpli- 

 cable aversions which w-e can neither con- 

 quer nor change, would be classed under the 

 term insanity. There cannot be a more re- 

 markable analogy than that whicli sometimes 

 exists between the insanity of man and these 

 singularly capricious fancies in animals. The 

 subject is worthy of attention. Has the pria- 



