6 INTRODUCTION. 



of perfection to another. The first hint that we have of 

 the use of electricity was Franklin's drawing it from 

 the clouds with his kite ; now it is the instrument 

 of conveying thought from mind to mind, with a 

 rapidity that surpasses time. The great propelling 

 power that drives the wheel of the engine over our 

 land, and ploughs the ocean with our steamers, was 

 first discovered escaping from a tea-kettle. And so 

 the powers of the horse, second only to the powers of 

 steam, became known to man only as experiments 

 and investigation revealed them. 



The horse, according to the best accounts we can 

 gather, has been the constant servant of man for 

 nearly four thousand years, ever rewarding him with 

 his labour and adding to his comfort in proportion 

 to his skill and manner of using him ; but being to 

 those who govern him by brute force, and know 

 nothing of the beauty and delight to be gained from 

 the cultivation of his finer nature, a fretful, vicious, 

 and often dangerous servant; whilst to the Arab, 

 whose horse is the pride of his life, and who governs 

 him by the law of kindness, we find him to be quite 

 a different animal. The manner in which he is 

 treated from a foal gives him an affection and attach- 

 ment for his master not known in any other country. 

 The Arab and his children, the mare and her foal, 

 inhabit the tent together ; and although the colt and 

 the mare's neck are often pillows for the children to 

 roll upon, no accident ever occurs, the mare being as 



