320 Transactions of the A if eric an Institute, 



which excite universal adiuii-atioii on account of their heautiful pro- 

 portions, symmetry of form, powers of emhirance, and amiability of 

 disposition, see no scourges. They do not run when the halter is 

 accidentally dropped. When alarmed, the nearer lie can get to one . 

 of the family — for he knows every individual belonging to the tent — 

 the safer he considers his condition. Instead of vaulting away at 

 full speed, should a rein break, he stops quietly to have it repaired. 

 Little children climb about his legs ; others swing at his long tail, yet 

 he loves them all. A swallow of milk from a gourd shell, or some- 

 thing sweet from their little soft hands, establishes the fact beyond 

 disputation, that the law of kindness is better than the rod, even with 

 brutes. Monkeys have the organ of imitation largely developed, 

 ■which in a state of freedom is mischievously exercised for general 

 amusement. As prisoners, however, the glimpse of a rattan, always 

 held ill a menacing position in the hands of an exhibitor, compels 

 them to go through a circle of performances very amusing to specta- 

 tors. But left to themselves, they never repeat their gymnastic feats 

 voluntarily, as though the object were to l^ecome more expert. On 

 the contrary, the noble horse — that l)rutally treated, indispensable 

 servant of civilized man in all circumstances of W^q^ from the king to 

 the beggar — exhibits peculiar exhilaration at the sound of a bugle, 

 the sweet tones of a military band, or the booming of cannon. IIow 

 proudly he steps, dressed in brilliant housings. He has no fear amid 

 the thickening carnage of battle till his rider falls. Then bewil- 

 dered and distracted with apprehensions of danger,- he flies for safety 

 "where dangers multiply with increasing horror. "We put blinders 

 over his sparkling eyes, and then beat hiin unmercifully if he hesi- 

 tates to leap blindly over a ditch. Enormous iron shoes, wholly dis- 

 proportioned to his weight and strength, are nailed to 1 lis feet, to 

 weary him quite as much as the burden on his back. If his tail is 

 not suftlciently elevated to comport witli modern conceptions of equine 

 dignity of carriage, a terribly painful operation is performed by cut- 

 ting the flexor tendons every two inches completely in two. While 

 inflamed and sensitive as the apple of the eye, the maimed caudal 

 extremity is held up by weights over a pully, for -weeks in succession. 

 This is one of the severe and unjustiflable surgical barbarities to 

 which the horse is ordinarily subjected in this country, bef(n'e being 

 placed under the care of a tutor who is supposed to educate him for 

 the severities of perpetual slaveiy under a succession of task-masters, 

 who are graduated by the length of a purse. His schooling begins 



