298 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



would teach a better choice of the animal, and to exact from it no greater exer- 

 tion than nature had rendered it capable of yielding. (3) By means of this table we 

 should be enabled to establish the true conformation of the racehorse ; and at any 

 given time to discover whether the breed had degenerated." 



On the morning of the 25th of February, 1789, Eclipse was seized with a violent 

 cholic, and died at seven in the evening of the 27th, in the twenty-sixth year of his 

 ao-e. He was killed by inflammation of the bowels, as was shown in the post- 

 mortem, and his heart weighed fourteen pounds. In the investigations made to 

 discover the mechanical reasons for his speed and endurance, Saint Bel found that 

 he differed from the table of equine proportions used by the pupils of the Veterinary 

 Schools of France in the following points : (i) His height was not three heads but 

 three and a-half. (2) His neck was not one head in length, but one and a-half. 

 (3) The height of his body was not equal to its length, but exceeded it by about one- 

 tenth. (4) The perpendicular line falling from his stifle did not touch the toe, but 

 fell as much as half a head in front of it. (5) The distance from his elbow to the 

 bend of his knee was not equal to the distance from the bend of his knee to the 

 ground, but was two parts of a head longer. The last two points especially will be 

 recognised as being highly important. 



Seeking rather more deeply the causes which underly any resulting speed in 

 certain conformations, Saint Bel showed that long and obliquely-set shoulders were 

 better, because the more they incline backward the further will the arms of the lever 

 be extended in the portion of a circle which it will describe. For the same reason 

 a wide and flat hock in a justly proportioned leg was of service, because the angle 

 formed by the tibia and the calcaneum was larger than in smaller conformations, 

 and therefore allowed the hind legs to be placed obliquely forward under the body, 

 at a distance even beyond the centre of gravity of the whole animal. 



By dividing the length of the head of Eclipse (which was 22 inches) into 22 parts 

 of equal length, Saint Bel established a common measure for every part of his body. 

 He then showed that 3 heads and 13 parts gave Eclipses height, when properly 

 placed, from the foretop to the ground ; 3 heads exactly from the withers to the 

 ground ; 3 heads and 3 parts his entire length of body from the most prominent part 

 of the chest to the extremity of the buttocks ; i head and 19 parts was a common 

 measure for three things, viz., the height of the perpendicular line from elbow to 

 ground, the distance from the top of the withers to the stifle, and the distance from 

 the top of the rump to the elbow ; i head and 4 parts provided a common measure 



