162 FORMER ERRORS. 



one. might be seated vis-a-vis a pair of moustaches, I 

 could see no fun in playing battering rams, thick as 

 my scull maybe — and in good truth its thickness has 

 been pretty well tried in more ways than committing 

 its fugitive thoughts to paper. 



A very great error existed for a long time as to the 

 proper application of weight to horses in two- wheeled 

 carriages : with some it probably exists still, though 

 certainly not so generally as it did some years since. 

 This error arose from a perfectly evident conclusion, 

 that the more weight we throw on the horse's back, 

 the less there must be on the wheels ; and to effect this 

 a much greater portion of weight was put before the 

 axle in old gigs than in modern ones. Nothing cer- 

 tainly could be more absurd than to suppose this was 

 advantageous to the horse ; and yet many sensible 

 men entertained the idea. There can be no doubtbut 

 if we take, say a hundred-weight off the wheels and 

 put it on the horse's back, the wheels would certainly 

 make a hundred-weight less impression on the road, 

 being that much lighter ; but it by no means follows 

 that the change is in favour of the horse : in fact, 

 common sense tells us it is the reverse ; for if the 

 changing the hundred- weight was advantageous, it 

 must follow that if we could pack the two persons, 

 their luggage, gig, and all on his back, it would be 

 better still ; and so on, till, in lieu of a horse drawing a 

 ton of hay, we should be making the experiment of 

 trying how he could carry it, in which I rather 

 imagine we should fail. That weight hanging back 

 so far as to cause any exertion of the horse to keep it 

 down must be a useless expenditure of labour, is quite 

 certain ; in fact, the desideratum is to give him if 

 possible increased hold of the ground ; but the putting 



