402 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



employed for training the liippodrome horse ; the conditions of nour- 

 ishment, stabling, and temperature to which he is submitted ; the 

 sweatings, the tests of all kinds which he undergoes ; the dressing, the 

 massage, the dry friction upon the members, which are given to him 

 every day ; is not all this preparation — so extensive and so careful — 

 adapted to communicate to him, in the highest degree, the sangui no- 

 nervous temperament and the brilliant qualities which characterize 

 him ? Is not the Arabian horse in reality trained in the same way ? 

 The different circumstances to which he is obliged to conform him- 

 self on account of the rough life of his master ; the medium so pro- 

 pitious for the development of all the faculties inherent to his nature, 

 — are they not essentially calculated to produce and to establish in him 

 the highest aptitude of the species? Have not these aptitudes also 

 germinated in several of the old French races, for example, the Navar- 

 rine, the Limousine, under the effect of the same influences? Do we 

 not at the present time see them manifested in certain flunilies, notably 

 the large Boulonnais horse, which has never been subjected to metissage 

 with the races called pure-blooded f 



Artificial Transmissibility of the "Blood." — If, now that 

 the production of the " blood" is recognized as being derived from the 

 power of adaptation of some isolated specific units, we obtain their 

 individuality, with the qualities, however poor they may be, by which 

 this individuality is manifested, we will be able, by the judicious use 

 of zootechnical methods, to condense and establish it in a family or 

 race of which it will become in some way the quid proprium. This is 

 the practice pursued by the Arabs and the English with their horses. 

 The care which they have taken to preserve them from all contamina- 

 tion has made them animals of the richest blood ; they have so thor- 

 oughly succeeded in becoming masters of this individuality, that they 

 infuse it and transmit it with a rare facility to the varieties in which it 

 was before absent. 



This demonstrative experiment is of great interest from an economi- 

 cal point of view. From it we obtain the indication that this condensed 

 individuality which is called the blood may be made use of to com- 

 municate the special feature or quality to other individuals or other 

 races less well endowed, and in whom selection will act in the same way 

 as it has done for the parent stock. The great difficulty of the prob- 

 lem is to know under what circumstances and to what extent the oi)era- 

 tion should be attempted ; but, however great this difficulty may be, 

 the prin(^iple we have just given is not the less perfectly true. 



Index of the " Blood." — Finally, a last question presents 



