THE MUSCLES. Ill 



know they will " beat" all little horses. Eclipse was, altogether, a 

 stupendous horse ; and with his powers and breeding combined, 

 no competitor could live with him. The reason why, in general, 

 little horses are better than big ones is, that they inherit a concen- 

 tration of power and energy which the larger sort seldom possess : 

 the moment, however, a breed of good large horses is discovered, 

 the little sort cannot fail to fall into the background. 



When we reflect on the quick and varied motion of which an 

 animal body is susceptible, — the number of parts there are to be 

 moved, and that every muscle or moving power necessarily has its 

 antagonist muscle or power, we shall not feel so much surprise at 

 learning that there are upwards of three hundred muscles distri- 

 buted over the body and limbs, and that these vary almost in every 

 possible degree in magnitude, and are of an endless variety of shape 

 or figure. Being mostly for the purpose of locomotion, the majo- 

 rity and the largest of them run from the body to the limbs ; and 

 the hind limbs, from having a great deal more to perform than the 

 fore, possess the largest and thickest masses of muscle. The parts 

 called the buttocks or quarters being composed of muscles whose 

 office it is to propel the animal onward in progression, necessarily 

 possess great fleshiness and bulkiness. The fore limbs are slender 

 compared with the hind, they having little more to perform than to 

 support or sustain the fore half of the body, and head and neck, and 

 not to do much work in progression. I said before, and I repeat 

 here, that as muscles are worked or exercised, so do they become 

 large or powerful; and this, independently of original formation, will 

 go far to account for their increased size in the hind as compared with 

 the fore quarters, as well as for their largeness or plumpness in ani- 

 mals in condition, and for their smallness or flabbiness in such as 

 are out of condition. View the race-horse brought to the starting 

 post in condition to run ; mark his beautiful satiny skin, elevated 

 into prominences by the muscles underneath, which appear dis- 

 tinct enough through it almost to admit of anatomical demonstra- 

 tion : then feel his muscles, grasp his crest and shake his neck, 

 and mark how firm and hard his flesh is, and how whipcordy 

 and clean his sinews have through training become ; in fine, what 

 a totally different creature he is from what he was before being 

 put into condition to race. 



