174 HEAD AND NECK. 



with, comparatively a very small brain, or with none at all, 

 get out of danger, or seize their prey, with an amount 

 of speed and precision which it would be hopeless for any 

 man to attempt to rival ; simply because the action of his 

 instinct is impeded by the influence of a large brain. 

 We see this demonstrated in ourselves, in the case of move- 

 ments, as in fencing, boxing and dancing, for instance, 

 which could be executed only slowly and clumsily at first, 

 when they needed the exercise of thought, become capable 

 of being performed with the speed and correctness of 

 a machine, as soon as practice had made them almost 

 automatic. 



The prominent forehead i^sec PI. 21), to which I have 

 alluded on p. 168, indicates a large size of the intellectual 

 portion [cerebntm, see p. 43) of the brain, which at that 

 part of the forehead is covered by only a thin plate of 

 bone. Without wishing to import any of the jargon of 

 phrenology into a discussion on this subject, I may hazard 

 the suggestion that the portion of the brain which is con- 

 secrated to the functions of memory and perceptive power, 

 as well as the cerebelluvi (the organ of " muscular sense," see 

 p. 43), lies underneath the upper part of the forehead, 

 where prominence and convexity of the part is a marked 

 beauty, as I have mentioned on p. 171. 



For the foregoing reasons, I do not look upon the 

 possession of a large brain as a desirable " point " in a horse. 

 Hence, apart from the practical experience I have had, I do 

 not like, as I have just said, a bulging-out condition of the 

 lower part of the forehead, nor a long distance between the 

 eyes and the top of the head {see p. 171), both of which 

 peculiarities of conformation point to large brain capacity. 



