THE SO-CALLED "INCAPACITATING VICES." 295 



SpS madness, although it may be accompanied by the temporary absence 

 of consciousness. The vicious acts display too great a similarity through- 

 out the entire equine race, distributed over the world, to be reconciled 

 with the presence of recognition ; while they are too regular in their 

 development and far too heedless in their execution to accord with the 

 promptings of any wicked disposition which would be dependent upon 

 individual inclination. 



Then, the sameness which pervades the entire group of supposed 

 "equine vices," cannot be reasonably accounted for in accordance with 

 the popular belief. In the human being, each example of a vicious dispo- 

 sition is conspicuous for adopting an independent and an eccentric course 

 of action, though it occasionally practices imitation. Can animals in- 

 struct or mimic one another? Have horses, only, the power to com 

 municate " vice " to their companions ? Can they, only, teach self-mutila- 

 tion, and learn suicide ? That is not to be credited. But will the reader, 

 viewing them as inferior beings, consider the conduct of all as regulated 

 by the impulses of instinct, generated by sudden emotion ? Then, 

 sameness is by no means extraordinary. Eating is in man an instinctive 

 act. The modes of preparing food are various, and the methods of its 

 division are as dissimilar in different nations, — for these actions are 

 shaped by conviction or by reason ; but the manner in which the instinc- 

 tive portion of the act is performed, the way in which the sustenance 

 is masticated and is swallowed, though in some degree influenced by 

 refinement, is mainly similar in all regions, and in every race of human 

 beings. 



To run away from danger is an instinct in a horse. The animal does 

 not fly from battle, only because man has deceived it into a faith that there 

 is no danger where gunpowder is consumed. Terror renders the animal 

 blind and unconscious. It has no more power to check the last effect 

 than it has ability to contend against the first consequence. Pain induces 

 a natural desire to escape from the cause of suff'ering. Its wish may be 

 gratified at the sacrifice of property ; but property is an artificial institu- 

 tion, of which most animals have hitherto refused recognition. Same- 

 ness of cause generally induces like results. Idleness leads to mischief; 

 satiety promotes waste ; terror generates alarm ; and itching provokes 

 scratching. These acts in the animal may be imprudently indulged; 

 but the horse, having no conception of a future, of course cannot nicely 

 calculate probabilities. Thus, if we run through the list of the so-called 

 "vices," each will admit of a very easy and of a remarkably ready solu- 

 tion. 



Let no man, therefore, speak of a "vicious horse." Let no reasona- 

 ble being so far forget himself as to attribute design as a motive to the 



