342 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



at first sight, for example, a horse from an ass or a zebra. But the 

 opponents of the relationship theory affirm that these characters cannot 

 be compared ; it is the disposition, the attitude, the appearance, the 

 color, the presence or the absence, etc., of such or such parts, much 

 more than the dimensions, which impress us at first. To make this 

 assertion is to recognize implicitly the relations of the many parts of 

 the organic collection, from which proceed the differences shown. 

 The proportions of the ass are not more similar to those of man than 

 those of man are to be confounded with those of the monkey ; and so 

 long as these species exist, we shall find in their external form the 

 relations, more or less comprehensible, which their regions disclose at 

 the present time. In different individuals these vary but very little, 

 and in the same race they are not, as has been said, essentially variable, 

 for the features of resemblance become purely illusionary ; we know, 

 on the contrary, that they are used as a principal foundation for all 

 classifications whose object is the methodical description of the different 

 ethnic groups. 



Harmony and Discord; Proportion and Disproportion. 

 — When the mind examines any living form whatsoever, a conception, 

 a production of its own activity, it always experiences in the presence 

 of the one or the other a series of sensations which convey to it an 

 agreeable or a disagreeable impression. We are not affected in the 

 same way by the reading of a literary composition, at the sight of a 

 picture, a statue, an object of art, the recital of a dramatic adventure. 

 The association of ideas, words, facts ; the musical power of a sentence ; 

 the rhythm of discourse ; the elevation of sentiment ; the combination 

 of geometrical lines, color, objects, or scenes described, — all these con- 

 ditions of persons and things excite our sensibility differently, please 

 or fatigue us according to the manner in which they are expressed and 

 the aptitude of the person whom we wish to appreciate them. 



In the same manner, the sight of a horse pleases or displeases us 

 by the elegance of his form, the expression of his physiognomy, the 

 vigor, the gracefulness, and the elegance of his gaits. Beautiful nature, 

 like a fine book, manifests in every one a sentiment of physical and 

 moral pleasure in proportion to the degree of impressionability and 

 special culture which the observer possesses. Sympathy or antipathy, 

 emotion or indifference, such are the results by which the correlation 

 of things is manifested to our senses ; by which, in other words, the 

 harmony or discord of these relations is indicated. In ordinary lan- 

 guage everything that is in harmony or concordance is called propor- 

 tionate; everything that is not so is disproportionate, although in many 



