370 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



VERTICAL HEIGHT, ox. OF THE POSTERIOR MEMBER ABOVE THE GROUND. 



Pelvis (a) 0.28384 m. 



Thigh (b) 0.27575 m. 



Leg (c) 0.25455 m. 



Tarsus 0.08000 m. 



Metatarsus 0.28000 m. 



Digital region 0.12020 m. 



Vertical distance between the summit of the croup and that of the 



haunch , 0.02000 m. 



Thickness of the interarticular menisci, the cartilages, the skin, 



the shoe, the hoof 0.05000 m. 



Total height of the member 1.36434 m. 



Whence it follows that if the locomotory segments of the horse were really 

 inclined, as General Morris asserts, a subject of medium size would measure only 

 1.39 m. at the withers and only 1.26 m. at the croup. Besides, the summit of 

 his withers would be 12 centimetres higher than that of the croup! Medium 

 horses so small, or withers so prominent, are no longer seen ! What is the con- 

 clusion ? Evidently that the articular segments are not inclined 45 degrees to 

 the horizon and that the angles are more open than the theory asserts. 



On the other hand, M. Neumann adds, "Since some kind of mathematical 

 accuracy is the principal merit of this conception, is it not strange that, in a 

 practical question, ideal lines, which are left to the appreciation of those who 

 wish to apply them, are established as a foundation? For, if the direction of 

 the region by itself be considered, it is seen — to speak of the shoulder alone — 

 that this direction may vary from five to six degrees upon the same subject, 

 according to the line which one wishes to obtain. Each region is not so well 

 delineated. It does not offer points of delimitation so precise and so invariable 

 that the lines which may be taken as a basis shall be the same in all horses 

 which are made an object of comparison ; and, if these lines are not the same, 

 of what use can they be in that comparative examination of the subjects which 

 is necessary to the establishing of a theory? 



" An oblique croup will necessarily correspond to an oblique shoulder ; a 

 horizontal croup to a straight shoulder; so that draught-horses which, in the 

 opinion of connoisseurs, would be well adapted to their service, would present, 

 on the contrary, a very defective conformation, if such a theory was to be the 

 guide ; to an oblique croup (that of the race-horse) would correspond an elbowed 

 hock (that of the draught-horse) ; the anterior and the posterior pasterns should 

 have the same direction, whilst it is well known that the latter are nearly always 

 straighter than the former ; and many other details upon which we do not wish 

 to insist." 



Thus, from a purely theoretical point of view, the conception of 

 the similitude of the angles and tlie parallelism of the bony segments 

 is unsupportable, nor is it less so if we endeavor to verify it experi- 

 mentally. 



In order to do this, as we have said at the beginning, it is necessary 

 to determine with the greatest care the external landmarks of the axes 

 or centres of rotation around which the osseous levers turn. 



