FIRST PRINCIPLES OF CONFORMATION. 



not being suitable to the kind of work to which he was 

 put. In our study of the " make and shape " of horses, 

 we may profitabh' begin by taking a comparative view 

 of animals of great speed and those of immense strength, 

 so as to arrive at a knowledge of the principles by 

 which their special characteristics are developed to a 

 high degree of excellence. As the conformation best 

 adapted for the one is different from that for the 

 other, we cannot find both xmited in the same animal. 

 It is evident that the suitability of horses to the kind 

 of work they are required to perform, depends upon the 

 manner in which their respective proportions of speed 

 and strength are varied. Thus, a dray-horse which can 

 trot a mile in eight minutes with 3,000 lbs. behind 

 him, may be quite as useful, in his own way, as a 

 match-trotter which, with a sulky and driver weighing 

 together 150 lbs., can do a mile in two minutes twenty 

 seconds. 



On examining the subject of comparative conforma- 

 tion, we find that mammals (animals which suckle their 

 young) of speed and mammals of strength differ essen- 

 tially in shape from each other, and that individuals of 

 each respective class have a similar kind of conforma- 

 tion. As an example of the gallopers, let us take the 

 Indian black buck (Fig. i), which, for half a mile, could 

 give five hands and a beating to the fastest horse that 

 ever looked through a bridle. Then there is the cheetah 

 (Fig. 3), which can give the antelope 100 yards start and 

 catch him in a furlong. It is true that the spotted cat 

 effects his purpose a good deal by surprise ; but it is 

 equally certain that for a couple of hundred yards he 

 can travel with the velocity of an express train. Also, 

 there is the greyhound (Fig. 8), with whose speed we 

 are all famihar. In comparison with these fleet-footed 

 animals, let us note the " make and shape " of the 

 buffalo (Fig. 2), which is endowed with vast muscular 

 power; and, as the opposite of the "long-tailed dog," 



