INTRODUCTION. 



according to principles that may be studied with a fair 

 amount of accuracy and with much profit. The value of our 

 investigations in this direction is, however, limited by two 

 restrictions. First : we cannot, except to a small extent, 

 examine the interior of our machine — a fact which is not of 

 much moment if we be afforded an opportunity of testing its 

 working powers. Second : we can, from inspection, tell 

 little or nothing of the agency which directs its movements, 

 and which is known as its nervous system. Thus, a race- 

 horse may be of the most fashionable blood, be sound in 

 wind and limb, "fit as hands can make him," be possessed of 

 every galloping and staying " point" ; and, yet, if we be rash 

 enough to predict his success on the turf, he may falsify our 

 too hastily expressed judgment by " refusing to try a yard," 

 the moment the starter's flag falls. Our carefully selected 

 hunter may persist In running out at the smallest obstacle, 

 and our chosen cart-horse may jib on meeting the first Incline 

 which requires him to throw his weight into the collar. I 

 may, therefore, state that the study of Conformation will not 

 enable us to predict absolutely that a certain horse will 

 perform, with credit to himself, the work for which he is 

 Intended. It can only permit us to say that an animal 

 possessing the necessary " points " will. In the majority of 

 cases, fulfil the expectation formed of him. It does, how- 

 ever, provide us with an unerring guide in deciding that 

 certain horses are not suitable for certain kinds of work. 



In the study of Conformation, particular points should 

 be rarely taken separately ; for a defect In one Is frequently 

 compensated by special excellence in another. 



Also, on the principle that the strength of a chain is equal 

 only to that of Its weakest link, we must remember that 



