BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 119, 



to drill: even in a few months he is absolutely trans- 

 muted ; no one would recognise the plodding loon in 

 the smart soldier : he now walks with a firm and 

 graceful step, steps the earth as if the earth be- 

 longed to him, not as if he was a mere part and par- 

 ticle of its clay, half moulded into human form, yet 

 such a few months before he showed : doubtless he 

 found the drill somewhat irksome, but it transformed 

 the mere animated lump of earth into a form, the 

 prototype of the sculptor's study. 



It is pretty much the same with horses, as regards 

 bearing reins. The naturalist might say, look at a 

 horse in his natural state : unless when excited by 

 fear, or some other impulse of equal influence, the 

 position of his head is little more than horizontal 

 with his body, often much lower. Such, no doubt, is 

 the fact, but he learns this from constantly feeding 

 from the ground ; it becomes a habit, and in a state 

 of nature it answers his purpose ; but it by no means 

 proves it would be an advantageous style of carriage, 

 when he is not compelled to pick his food from the 

 ground. To show that it really is only acquired 



