SIZE OF BRAIN. 173 



animal is " aged" — when he will be able to think for himself 

 without the promptings and influence of man — it will be 

 found that his breaking will be ten, if not a hundred, times 

 more difficult than if it had been undertaken in his early 

 youth. This theory of the undesirability of a horse knowing 

 too much, which I have applied to refractory animals, appears 

 to hold equally good in greyhounds that run " cunning." In 

 these remarks on the intelligence of horses, it must be clearly 

 understood that I refer to reasoning power and not to power 

 of memory, which is independent of the capacity to draw 

 a conclusion from given premises. It is evident, without the 

 necessity of writing a treatise on the subject, that the useful 

 (to man) intelligence of the horse lies in his power of memory 

 and to the quickness with which his muscles act in response 

 to the impressions received by his senses. In other words, 

 his useful intelligence depends on the high development of 

 his instinct, and not of his reason. We demand of the horse 

 ready obedience ; but not obedience matured by reflection, 

 like what the shepherd would expect his dog to display when 

 getting his flock home on a stormy night, or when driving 

 them through a crowded thoroughfare. We do not ask him 

 to take the initiative from the deep affection which he does 

 not bestow on us, nor to reason out problems ; we only want 

 him to remember that if he does certain things, we shall 

 " make much of him " ; that if he does other things, we shall 

 punish him. 



We know that reflex action, prompted by stimuli from 

 outside the body, acts best when it has but little connection 

 with the brain {see p. 42). In fact, the smaller is the 

 comparative size of the brain, the quicker and more accurately 

 are instinctive movements performed. Thus we see animals 



