132 FORM AND ACTION. 



to be as true as it is new, is one, two, three, four, as followeth. 

 The horse, when he beginneth his walk, must either lead with the 

 legs on the right side, or with those of the left : if he lead with 

 those of the right, then the first foot he lifteth is his far hind foot, 

 which maketh one, &c." Now, as far as my observation has gone, 

 every horse — I believe I might say every quadruped — usually 

 makes his first step with a, fore, not with a hind foot. I have cer- 

 tainly remarked horses and cattle at pasture, who, with their legs 

 in the parallelogramical or natural position, have, on occasions, 

 moved a hind instead of a fore leg first, in the act of advancing 

 foot by foot, as quadrupeds do while grazing ; but I have rarely or 

 never been able to detect the same thing when horses are about 

 setting off in earnest to walk or to trot : it is not at all unlikely 

 but that Borelli might have made his observation on cattle pastur- 

 ing, though at such a time their movements can hardly be regarded 

 as those of ordinary progression. At the mandate of the will to 

 move forward the fore leg is first put in motion, the order of suc- 

 cession of movement in the walk appearing to be this : — supposing 

 the off or right fore leg to move first, that is no sooner carried off 

 the ground than the left or near hind foot is raised, the former being 

 placed upon the ground again prior to the latter. The two remain- 

 ing feet move, in respect to each other, in the same order of time, 

 the left or near fore after the off hind, the right or off hind after the 

 near fore ; it being observable that, as each hind foot follows in the 

 line of movement of its corresponding fore foot, the latter would 

 very often get struck by the former did it not quit its place imme- 

 diately prior to the other being placed upon, partly or entirely, the 

 same ground. Now, as the off fore foot gets grounded before the 

 near hind, and as the near fore foot is raised off the ground at the 

 moment the near hind is placed upon it, it follows that the fore 

 feet are performing in manner very or quite similar to the action 

 of a biped, one being off the ground while the other is on, one 

 being in advance while the other is left behind ; the hind feet also 

 are performing the same alternate movements, the only difference 

 being that the motions are reversed : in fact, if we imagine two 

 soldiers marching in file, or one behind the other, out of step, we 

 shall have a very good idea of the movements of the quadruped 

 animal : the soldier in front representing the fore legs, it is evident 



