962 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



Now and then a third interferes: there are pies of all original colours with white, and all are held in 

 estimation. 



6298. Colour, as a criterion of mental and personal qualities, is laid much stress on by many persons ; 

 and long experience has shown that certain tints are usually accompanied by certain qualities of person or 

 disposition. As a general rule, dark-coloured horses are certainly the best ; but, as before observed, it is 

 peculiar that black, as the darkest of all, should form an exception to this rule. Light shades appear un- 

 favourable to strength and durability ; they are also accompanied frequently with irritability and perverse- 

 ness of temper. Something like a general law in the animal economy seems to prevail, to make white a 

 distinctive mark of weakness. Age, which is the parent of weakness, brings with it white hairs, both in 

 man and in horses, and most other quadrupeds. The hair formed after a wound has robbed a part of its 

 original covering is often white, because the new formed surface is yet in a state of debility. It is likewise 

 a fact well known among the observant, that the legs and feet when white are more obnoxious to disease 

 than those of a darker tone. The Arabs remarks, that light chestnut horses have soft tender feet. It is 

 the observance of these peculiarities that has at length guided our taste, and formed our judgment of 

 beauty. With us much white on the legs is considered as a deformity, and is expressively called/ow/ marked, 

 whereas pied markings in other parts are reckoned beautiful In Africa, however. Captain Lyon informs 

 lis a superstitious dependence is placed on horses with legs and feet stockinged with white. It does not ap- 

 pear that climate has the same influence on the colour of horses as on that of other domesticated animals. 

 In all latitudes in which the horse can live, he is black or white indiscriminately ; but as he cannot endure 

 extreme rigour, it is not necessary that he should vary. 



Sect. III. The Bony; Anatomy or Osseous Structure of the Horse. 



6299. All quadrupeds are formed on an earthy base called bone, and the assemblage of 

 bony parts is called a skeleton. Bones are formed of earth and membrane (1881.) ; they 

 are covered also by an investure called periosteum. The earthy part is the last formed, 

 and consolidates the bones as the animal becomes fitted to exert all his powers. This 

 deposit of earth in the bones appears to be hastened by any thing that permanently 

 quickens the circulation : heat does this, and hence the human and brute inhabitants of 

 warm climates come to perfection sooner than those of northern regions ; but they are 

 generally smaller, for by preternaturally hastening the earthy deposit before the mem- 

 branous part of the bones becomes fully evolved or grown, they do not attain the bulk 

 they would be otherwise capable of. Undue exertion has the same effect ; and thus we 

 learn why horses too early and too hard worked become stinted in their growth. Pres- 

 sure likewise occasions an early, and also a preternatural ossification ; in this way the 

 parts of the spine which bear heavy loads present large masses of bone, brought on by 

 this cause alone. For the same reasons, horses early worked put out splints, spavins, 

 and other bony concretions. Bones are all of them more or less hollow : within their 

 caverns an oily fluid is secreted, called medulla or marrow, which serves for their sup- 

 port, and that of the constitution generally. The bones have nerves, blood-vessels, and 

 absorbents. Bones are capable of reproduction, as proved by their uniting when broken ; 

 and also by the yearly renewal of the antlers of the deer, which are not horn as in the ox 

 6r sheep, but pure bone. Bones are connected together by articulation : when such 

 articulation is moveable, it is termed a joint. In some cases bones articulate by suture 

 or indentation of parts, as in the skull. We shall consider, in succession, the anatomy 

 of the head, trunk, and extremities. 



SuBSECT. 1 . Osseotis Structure of the Head. 



6300. The bones of the head sxea&ioWavis. The ocd/?2toZ (.^g'. 830. between & ft), which is the largest 

 1)one of the skull, in the colt is composed of several pieces which unite by age ; it articulates with the atlas (cr) 

 or first of the cervical or neck vertebrae. At its posterior surface it is perforated by a large hole, wh ich gives 

 passage to the spinal marrow. The two frontal bones {U) unite also by age; and behind them is lodged 

 the anterior and inferior portion of the brain. A division of their bony surfaces forms two cavities called 

 the frontal sinuses, which are lined by the nasal membrane throughout. The sagittal sature unites these 

 two bones. The remainder of the bones of the skull are the two parietal^, the tivo temporals, divided into 

 a squamous and petrous portion, within the latter of which is situated the internal ear ; and to the former 

 the posterior or lower jaw articulates. The sphenoid and ethtnoidhoues are hollow and irregular, serving 

 to intersect and attach the others ; and also to assist by their cavities in extending the pituitary or smelling 

 membrane. 



6301. The bones of the face are ten pairs and two single bones. The nasal (c) pair, within their union, 

 hold the septum n^rium or long cartilaginous plate which separates one nostril from the other. These 

 bones also greatly assist to extend the surface of the smelling organ. In the old heavy breeds, it was very 

 common to see these bones arched outwards ; but in the improved breed, particularly in those approach- 

 ing full blood, it is not uncommon to find them slightly curved inward. The fossas within these bones are 

 the principal seat of glanders. The two angitlars form a considerable portion of the orbits of the eyes. 

 The two malar, jugal, or cheek bones occupy also a portion of the orbits. The swjperior maxillary bones (e) 

 are the largest of the face bones, and contain all the upper molar teeth. The inferior or intermaxillary 

 bones {d) are wanting in man, in whom the face is short : these bones concur with the former in forming 

 alveoli or sockets for lodging the teeth. The superior palatines, the inferior palatines, the pterygoids, 

 the two anterior, and the two posterior turbinated bones, with the vomer or ploughshare, make up the 

 remaining facial bones, with the exception of the posterior maxillary or lower jaw bone (/), which on its 

 anterior edge is pierced to lodge the teeth ; at the upper part it extends itself into two angular branches, 

 each of which ends in two processes and an intermediate groove. The superior of these processes arti- 

 culates with the upper jaw. This bone throughout shows the most admirable mechanism ; the molar or 

 grinding teeth, on which most is dependent, and whose exertions are greatest, are placed near the centre 

 t)f motion : and as the upper jaw in most animals is fixed, or nearly so, it was necessary that the lower 

 should have considerable extent of motion for the purpose of grinding ; and it is accordingly so formed 

 as to admit of motion in every direction. The 05 hydides is a bone situated within the head at the root of 

 the tongue, to which it serves as a support, and for the attachment of muscles. 



6302. The teeth of the horse are the hardest and most compact bones of the body. There are usually 

 forty of them in the horse, and there are thirty six in the mare ; in which latter the tushes are usually 

 wanting. In anatomical language, they are divided into incisbres cuspidati, and moldres, or according 

 tothe lartgtrage of farriers and horsemen', into twelve nippers {flg.829. a, b, rj, four tushes {dd), and 



