THE HORSE AND ITS DISEASES. 9 



In 1809, Mr. Bracy Clark, of London, favored the 

 pnblic with the first part of his dissertations on the foot 

 of the horse. About this time Mr. Delabere, Veterinary- 

 Surgeon, and professor of animal medicine in general, 

 wrote a splendid work called the '' Outlines of the 

 Yeterinary Art, or the Principles of Medicine, as applied 

 to the sti'ucture, functions, and economy of the horse." 

 I have gained more information from this great work 

 than from the others that I have studied. 



Earliest Records of tlie Horse, 



The native country of the horse cannot with certainty 

 be traced ; it has been found varying in size, form, and 

 utility, in most of the sultry, and in many of the northern 

 regions of the old world. "W^e are told — so early as 

 1650, before the bii'th of Christ — the horse had been 

 domesticated by the Egyptians. " When Joseph carried 

 his father's remains from Egypt to Canaan, there went 

 up with him both chariots and horsemen" — Genesis i. 9. 



One hundred and fifty years afterwards the horse 

 constituted the principal strength of the Egyptian army. 

 " Pharoh pursued the Israelites, with six hundi^ed chosen 

 chariots" — Exodus xvi. 7. 



It was 1920 years before the birth of Christ, when 

 Abraham, having left Aaron in obedience to the Divine 

 command, was drawn into Egypt by the famine which 

 raged in Canaan — Genesis xii. 16. Pharoh offered sheep 

 and oxen, asses and camels ; horses would doubtless have 

 been added, had they then existed, or had they been sub- 

 dued iuEgypt. The Greeks affirm that l!^eptune struck the 

 earth with his trident, and the horse came forth. Six 

 hundi^ed years after the time just alluded to, Arabia had 

 no horses. " Solomon imported spices, gold and silver, 

 from Arabia" (2 Chron. ix, 14), but he supplied the 

 horses for his own cavalry and chariots from Egypt. 



In the seventeenth century after Christ, when 

 Mahomet attacked Koreish, neai- Mecca, he had but two 

 horses in i\is whole army. The horses of Arabia, 



