THE HORSE. 



Cruelties practised on horses A horse without hair. 



whence any sound is heard, and they are thus 

 rendered nearly deaf; and in the deprivation of 

 their tail, they find even a still greater inconve*- 

 nience. But of all others, the custom of nicking 

 them is the most useless and absurd. " It is an 

 affecting sight," says a respectable writer, " to 

 go into the stable of some eminent horse-dealer, 

 and there behold a range of beautiful steeds with 

 their tails cut and slashed, tied up by pullies to 

 give them force, suffering such torments that 

 they sometimes never recover the cruel gashes 

 they have received; and for whatisa.ll this done? 

 that they may hold their tails somewhat higher 

 than*they otherwise would, and be for ever after 

 deprived of the power of moving the joints of 

 thtmas a defence against flies!" 



A French writer has recently published .a de- 

 scription of a .horse without hair, which he con- 

 siders as a variety in the species, and whose state, 

 be says, is neither the effect, of art nor of disease. 

 This animal, taken from the Turks, and after- 

 ward purchased at. Vienna, appeared to be about 

 twenty years of age. He was lean, and remark- 

 ably susceptible of cold ; and the whole body 

 was destitute of hair, except the eye-lashes . of 

 the lower eye-lid. The skin was black, border- 

 ing upon grey, with some white spots under the 

 fore-shoulders, and in the groin: is was alao 

 soft to the touch, glossy, and rather unctuous. 

 The bones of the nose were depressed, which 

 ^mbarrasscd his respiration, and produced a noise 





