RESULT OF BEAUTIFUL PROPORTIONS. 



427 



M-itlumt any rest other than the halts, at the rate of 8 kilometres, 

 600 metres per hour. He estimates; in round numbers, that each hour 

 of work represents 7 kilometres at a trot, 1900 metres at a gallop, 

 or 450 metres at a charge. One or other of these distances may be 

 travelled, at the corresponding gait, as many times as there remain 

 hours in which to ])erform the work. The following is. therefore the 

 available j)ower at the end of each ride : 



Finally, the weight carried is extremely burdensome to the troop- 

 horse. Under ordinary circumstances, the charge does not sensibly 

 modify the speed, but it greatly augments the fatigue and, conse- 

 quently, the waste of endurance. The proof of the latter is furnished 

 by a study of the respiration. After trotting a (pertain number of 

 kilometres, the respirations, in horses not on a charge, rise to a mean 

 of 60 per minute ; in the same subjects, when charging, they attain 74. 

 Whence it follows that this time of trotting has winded these horses 

 as much as the same distance would have done at a gallop. 



General Bonie adds, " In the face of such a diminution of endurance, hesi- 

 tation is no longer allowable, and the horses should at once be disburdened of 

 their campaign traps. This question is so little appreciated that custom pre- 

 scribes such a weight that, by considering the undressed rider as weighing fir) 

 kilogrammes, which is certainly not an exaggeration, and adding the harness, 

 clothing, arms, ammunition, and provisions, it aggregates 152 kilogrammes. 



