98 FORM AND ACTION. 



From the summit of the croup to the stifle ^o- From the stifle 

 to the hock T 8 oV From the hock to the ground ■&%. From the 

 withers to the stifle 1 head T 6 oV From the summit of the croup to 

 the elbow I head -^* s . 



Two questions will naturally arise in the mind here : one is, can 

 any rules of proportion be ascertained and laid down that will 

 prove of service to us in practice ? — the other, supposing such rules 

 can be framed with any prospect of practical advantage to us, upon 

 what basis or determinate measures ought they to be founded 1 I 

 will not offend the accomplished "judge of horses," by saying that 

 he is likely to derive much benefit from the study of any rules of 

 this kind, however accurate their character ; but I will go so far as 

 to give it as my opinion, that the student of veterinary medicine, 

 or tyro in practice, might gain from attention to such rules that 

 sort and amount of knowledge which would put him, in the course 

 of>a short time after his application of them to practice, into the 

 possession of that knowledge which the "judge" had only been 

 able to arrive at either through extensive and manifold observa- 

 tion or a lengthened course of practice. In a word, the student 

 or beginner in such matters would, I do not hesitate to affirm, gain 

 much ground by making that a study, so far as he could do so, 

 which his older professional brethren had obtained but through 

 great opportunities of experience or years of attentive observation. 

 To give a familiar illustration of this : — a man unread in equestrian 

 matters is not supposed to know what parts should be long or 

 what short, in the well-formed horse, or what parts should be large, 

 what small : he might imagine it to be an affair of little moment, 

 whether the head were large or small, the neck long or short, 

 or think that short arms and thighs and very long cannons were 

 as good as the reverse conformations. But a man whose mind 

 had been previously furnished with some notions of proper pro- 

 portions could never run into these palpable errors. Theory would 

 have taught him differently, and practice would speedily convince 

 him of the truth or untruth of what he had learnt. So far, rules 

 of proportion may prove serviceable : so far, and no farther, do 

 I recommend them to attention. 



As every part of the animal machine, to be in just proportion, 



