52 THE HORSE. 



Utterance, are collectively termed neighing ; but some variety 

 of intonation may be discovered in the expression of its pas- 

 sions; as, for instance, the cry of joy or recognition dilfers 

 markedly from that of desire ; and anger from playfulness. 

 The females do not neigh so frequently nor with such force as 

 the males. For this reason it is, that predatory and warlike 

 tribes prefer mares, as being better adapted from their silence 

 for surprises or reconnoitering. Castration is known to have a 

 modulating effect on the voice. M. Herrissant supposes neigh- 

 ing to be produced by the vibration of two small triangular 

 membranes found at the extremity of the glottis. In the ass 

 and mule this structure is wanting, but they are provided with 

 a more singular apparatus. Hollowed out of the thyroid carti- 

 lage is a small concavity over which is stretched a membrane, 

 similar to the parcliment on the head of a drum. When air is 

 forced behind this substance, a very considerable noise is pro- 

 duced, though from the absence of muscularity the vibrations 

 are without modulation and consequently dissonant. 



" The intellectual character of the horse is scarcely excelled 

 by that of any other quadruped. His perceptions are remark- 

 ably clear, and his memory excellent. Attachment to those 

 who tend him with kindness forms a prominent trait in his 

 character. The feats which he is often taught to perform evince 

 a high intellectual capacity. Travellers in the desert assure us 

 that horses possess the faculty of directing their course to the 

 nearest water when hard pressed for that necessary article. 



" Horses swim with the greatest facility, and the distances 

 they have been known to perform in the water exceed our 

 expectation. A horse that was wrecked off the coast of South 

 America swam seven miles to land, and saved its life. 



" There exist some important differences in the animal 

 economy of the equine family and other herbivorous animals, 

 which, as the inferences from them are of some consequence, it 

 is necessary briefly to notice. The horse naturally requires but 

 little sleep, and even that it often takes standing. In a state of 

 nature, when fodder is short, to support itself properly, it is 

 compelled to graze twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Rumi- 

 nating animals eat with greater rapidity, and lie down to chew 

 the cud. Ti\e horse eats no faster than it digests. Digestion in 



