100 FORM AND ACTION. 



as the datum of their calculations. It is an easy matter to prove 

 both these methods of proceeding erroneous : the simple question 

 seems to be, which is the least so. In one mare, for example, 

 whose height is sixteen hands, the head measures, from poll to 

 muzzle, twenty-nine inches ; in another mare, of similar breeding 

 and height, the length of the head is but twenty-five inches and a 

 half, and we all know that horses of the same height may have 

 backs long or short, legs long or short, &c. Still, as I have ob- 

 served before, this is not a sufficient reason for us to cast away and 

 despise all rules of proportion as worthless. To all general rules, 

 there are few or many exceptions, and there certainly seem no cases 

 in which general rules can be applied with so little success as in 

 the form and action of animals. Even suppose we could estimate 

 the length, and breadth, and thickness, of every part concerned in 

 action, to the greatest exactitude, still are there other most material 

 circumstances, such as the peculiar texture and construction of the 

 parts, and the amount of vital energy with which the parts are en- 

 dowed, that regulate in an unknown and incalculable manner the 

 faculties and powers of action and endurance possessed by the 

 animal. 



Of all individual parts the head is that which earliest attains its 

 dimensions, and which is the least affected by that growth of the 

 body which depends so much upon the circumstances of food, situa- 

 tion, &c. At two years old the head appears to have attained its full 

 development ; and, I should say that, as there is less variation in 

 the longitude of heads than in the heights of horses, the head, as 

 an independent part, affords the best primitive measure we can 

 obtain for the foundation of our scale of mensuration. 



THE PROPORTIONS OF ECLIPSE. 



I must confess I feel some surprise that no person since 

 St. Bel's time — none that I am aware of — has seriously taken up 

 this subject: at least it must be admitted to be an interesting one ; 

 one, I think, that may be turned to some useful account; and I 

 only wish it had fallen into better hands than mine. All who feel 

 interested in the annals of racing, and in that science which makes 

 us, on geometrical or mechanical principles, acquainted with " the 

 form and action" of horses, cannot fail to seek with some eagerness 



