2 FIRST PRINCIPLES. 



true even among varieties of the same species which habitually 

 exist under respective surroundings that are widely different 

 from each other, as we may see among Arctic dogs and those 

 that are natives of tropical climates, neither of which could 

 bear with impunity a mutual change of country. It is evident 

 that an alteration in the natural state of an animal will continue 

 to be more or less detrimental to its health, until the functions 

 of the animal have accommodated themselves to the new 

 surroundings. Although young horses fresh off grass, as a 

 rule, at first feel the bad effects of a change of surroundings, 

 when put into a stable ; they become so well accustomed to 

 their new conditions of life, that after some time an abrupt 

 'return to the old order of things is not always safe. In our 

 efforts to obtain a maximum of strength or speed, we may 

 succeed to some extent in making special breeds and certain 

 individual horses tolerant, for instance, of food which is much 

 more stimulating than that found by them in their " natural " 

 state. At the same time, experience proves that such appa- 

 rently tolerant horses are abnormally liable to disease. There- 

 fore, while endeavouring to regulate the stable management 

 of our horses, so as to enable them to meet our civilised 

 requirements, we should keep them in a state as near that 

 of Nature as is practicable. Even among human beings, 

 civilisation is not free from danger to health. The well- 

 intentioned, though extremely ill-advised attempt to make 

 the remnant of Tasmanian natives participate in the supposed 

 'blessings of wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, eating cooked 

 food, and practising other forms of comparatively modern 

 hygiene, resulted in their speedy destruction. 



GREGARIOUSNESS. 



Gregariousness (love of association) is largely developed in 

 horses, which consequently as a rule thrive best under con- 

 ditions of companionship with their fellows. Among semi- 



