54 PHILOSOPHY OF TROTTING. 



All of these qualities are, to some extent, acquirable, and when 

 acquired by growth, education, practice or blood, they are transmissi- 

 ble and inheritable. 



It may be proper here to say, in passing, in order that I shall not 

 be held unscientific, that these words " mental " and " nerve system " 

 are often used Avithout intending to be held to the strict and correct 

 truth of science. The organs that compose the brain and embrace the 

 seat of mental and nervous action, may be said to be threefold, viz., 

 the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the cerebro-spinal mass. All these 

 parts, acted upon by the mind, carry out action by means of two sys- 

 tems of nerves, the automatic or reflex system, and the sensori-motor 

 system. The cerebrum is the seat of thought, and no exercise of the 

 will can be carried on without it. The cerebellum is the seat of com- 

 bined motion, and is necessary to give unity to the motions of the 

 muscles. The cerebro-spinal mass is the seat or centre of the auto- 

 matic or reflex system of nerves. Along the spinal cord are ganglia, 

 or centres, from which the nerves proceed. These ganglia are. diminu- 

 tive brains — the same in shape and functions — and are inferior centres 

 referred to the brain. 



The active power of the nervous system resides in these ganglia, 

 and not in the fibres of the nerves. The sensori-motor system serves 

 as a medium between the cause (aff'ection of the automatic system) 

 and the effect (motion) which follows. 



These statements regarding the seat and organs of mental or nerve 

 action thus concisely before us, we may proceed to the recognized 

 fact, clearly discernible, that this trotting quality in the horse arises 

 first of all from a state of mind, — habit of mind, — temperament, — 

 temper of mind, — inclination or instinct (for such are the various terms 

 that have been used), that induces or leads him to adopt that way of 

 going — be it fast or slow it matters not. And right here I am forced to 

 dispose of the question, "Which of these terms, or which phraseology 

 correctly and philosophically expresses the true idea? More has been 

 written and said in reference to the term " instinct," in this connec- 

 tion, than almost any other department of horse literature. It has 

 been brought forward on the one hand with a sort of proprietary 

 assumption that has called forth and challenged the condemnation of 

 those who had not the philosophy to dispute its soundness, or to fur- 

 nish a term more accurate in its application. 



Discarding all previous definitions of the term, I may say that 

 instinct is natural mental inclination, — inward impulse, — unconscious, 



