CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 10. SOLIDUNGULA. 583 



JULIUS CjESAH. 



to subdue these powerful quadrupeds. Their stomach is simple and middle-sized ; but the intes- 

 tines are very long, and the cceeuru enormous. The mammae arc situated between the thighs. 

 They are distinguished from all other animals in having a solid or undivided hoof, the two ante- 

 rior toes being, as it were, soldered together. While possessing these characteristics in common, 

 they are divided into two distinct genera, that of the Horse, Equus, containing a single species, 

 and that of the Ass, Asinus, containing the other members of the family. 



Genus HORSE : Equus. — This comprises the Horse, E. caballus, an animal which in all ages 

 has captivated the imagination of man. In ancient times, when war was the great game of life, 

 the horse was chiefly noted as the associate of the warrior. History has so instructed us that 

 the images of the great warriors of antiquity — Alexander and Caesar, Alaric and Attila, Saladin 

 and Coeur de Lion — habitually present themselves to the imagination as mounted upon the horse. 

 The equestrian statue is the popular apotheosis of the warrior, and not of antiquity only but of 

 modern times, for even Wellington and Washington are thus consecrated in imperishable bronze. 

 It may be wrong, but nevertheless it is true, as matter of fact, that the warrior in all ages is regarded 

 as the highest type of his race, and the same is true of his brute companion, the war-horse being 

 always regarded as the noblest of his species. The songs of the troubadour and the minnesinger 

 have been hardly more inspired by the deeds of the heroes of chivalry than by those of their 

 steeds. Nay, even the inspired penman has given us a portrait of the war-horse which manifests 

 « a similar enthusiasm. ''His neck," says the author of the Book of Job, "is clothed with thun- 

 der; the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and fejoiceth in his strength ; 

 he goeth out to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither turn- 

 eth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear, and the shield. 



He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of 



