SCOPE AND VALUE OF MEASUREMENT. 73 



•doubt, a natural trotter from eolthood. Those showing the Duroc 

 cross, including the Mambrino Chief, and their sub-families of the 

 Almonts, Thorndales, Blackwoods and Swigerts, show the readiest 

 natural adaptation to trot in infancy, and while unbroken. There 

 appears to be something in their conformation, particularly the long 

 thigh, that prompts the trotting impulse; but those of the same fami- 

 lies that attain the highest distinction — Lady Thorn and Allie West — 

 have shorter thighs than the family average, and none of those showing 

 the long members have yet reached the rank attained by Goldsmith 

 Maid, Rarus, Lucy, Lady Maud, Lucille Golddust, Lulu, Jay Gould, 

 •Gov. Sprague, Huntress or Bodine — the four latter being remote 

 kindred to the Duroc blood, but not showing the long leverage which 

 ordinarily distinguishes that family; the strong Duroc characteristic 

 having been overcome by the overpowering reinforcement of the 

 Messenger strains. It is also worthy of note that the union of these 

 "two classes has shoAvn the best results when the sire was of the 

 Messenger class, or short leverage, and the dam of the Duroc or Bell- 

 founder class, and that the reverse order of breeding has not been 

 ■distinguished for success. And right here I have an instance that 

 supplies an illustration on two points that I have advanced. Jay 

 Gould is one of three Star Hambletonians that have produced 2:30 

 trotters. Jay Gould is unlike the other Star Hambletonians in regard 

 to this matter of length of thigh. He has a thigh only 22 inches in 

 length — precisely the same as Edward Everett and Happy Medium, 

 both successful stallions. He has not the peculiar swinging motion of 

 the hind leg that marks the Star gait. If we could know the full pedi- 

 ;gree of his grandam, we should probably discover a concentration of 

 blood that controlled both the Duroc and Henry elements in his com- 

 position. But another point, also illustrated in his case, is, that the 

 mare from which he produced his 2:21 trotter. King Philip, who 

 already rivals the fame and promise of his sire, was a mare by Ham- 

 bletonian, and her dam was strong in the Bellfounder blood, such a 

 ■mare as the Kent mare that gave us Hambletonian and such as the 

 •dam of Sayer's Harry Clay. The illusti-ation may not be without its 

 value. 



THE SCOPE AND VALUE OF MEASUREMENT. 



In measuring the length of the forearm, I extend the line from 

 the top of the elbow, or joint at the rear of the leg, and alongside 

 the body to the centre of the notch in the joint of the knee, and from 



