336 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



Though the majority of horses in civilized lands are docile, they 

 are easily frightened, and, when they were used on the roads and in 

 the fields of the United States more than they are now, there were 

 numerous runaways and other accidents, which resulted in many deaths 

 and injuries of human beings. In addition, a few horses are really 

 vicious and freely indulge in kicking and biting. Indeed, the horse 

 was once characterized by a magazine writer as the most dangerous 

 animal. 7 In proportion to the total mileage covered by each, there were 

 probably more fatal accidents and serious injuries of people by horses 

 25 years ago than by automobiles today. 



Except along waterways, where boats may be used, and in deserts, 

 where camels are so useful, the horse has, until recently, been much 

 the best means of long-distance travelling. It is perhaps not too much 

 to say that but for the horse the development and spread of civiliza- 

 tion might have proceeded along very different lines. Had horses been 

 available to the American Indians centuries earlier, perhaps they would 

 have reached a higher, or at least a different, state of development be- 

 fore the coming of Europeans. Certainly, when they obtained horses 

 from the Spanish- invaders, their methods of hunting and warfare 

 were soon radically affected thereby on the western plains. 



In some of the western states there are many bands of escaped horses 

 running wild and breeding on the plains, to the detriment of the stock 

 ranges, and laws have been enacted in some jurisdictions to encourage 

 the shooting of such wild animals. 8 They not only consume much grass 

 that is needed for domestic stock, but also "pick up" horses belonging 

 to ranchers, which soon become as wild as the wild herds. In Arizona, 

 8000 wild horses were killed in I928. 9 Though Europeans brought 

 modern horses and mules to America, the debt has probably been can- 

 celled, with interest. During the world war alone the United States 

 shipped abroad, mostly to Europe, 950,000 horses and 345,000 mules. 10 



The importance of the horse is indicated by the fact that "more 

 than 2000 books relating to this animal have been published in Eng- 

 land and an equal number elsewhere," and there are in the Library of 

 Congress at Washington "nearly 1000 volumes devoted exclusively 

 to the horse," though the library had made no special effort to ac- 

 cumulate such books, owing to the fact that the Department of Agri- 



7 Bache, The terrible horse, Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 25, 1905, p. u. 



8 Palmer, The danger of introducing noxious animals and birds, Yearbook U. S. 

 Dept. Agric. for 1898, p. 88. 



8 Science News Letter, Nov. 9, 1929, p. 288. 

 10 Carter, Natl. Geog. Mag., XLIV, 456, 1923. 



