THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE HORSE. 127 



to be put in the desired direction ; and a similar arrangement causes the throttle 

 of the engine to open or close. The explosion is caused on contact if it is desired, 

 or it may always be kept under the operator's control. Some of these boats have 

 but one wire in the cable, over which the various functions are caused to operate, 

 others have a multiple cable, with a wire for each thing required to be done. 

 Over a mile and a half of wire is carried, so that the effective range becomes very 

 much greater than that of any of its rivals. Mr. Lay is constantly at work intro- 

 ducing improvements, all of which are protected by numerous patents. His sys- 

 tem has been definitely adopted by Russia after a satisfactory trial of ten of the 

 boats built for her. A factory has been established, and is proposed to use them 

 very extensively in any future war. — Harper' s Magazine for Juve. 



THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE HORSE. 



There is no doubt that the original home of the horse is not Europe, but 

 Central Asia ; for since the horse in its natural state depends upon grass for its 

 nourishment and fieetness for its weapon, it could not in the beginning have 

 thriven and multiplied in the thick forest-grown territory of Europe. Much 

 rather should its place of propagation be sought in those steppes where it still 

 roams about in a wild state. Here, too, arose the first nations of riders of which 

 we have historic knowledge, the Mongolians and the Turks, whose existence 

 even at this day, is as it were, combined with that of the horse. From these 

 regions the horse spread in all directions, especially into the steppes of Southern 

 and Southeastern Russia and into Thrace, until it finally found entrance into the 

 other parts of Europe, but not until after the immigration of the people. This 

 assumption is, at least, strongly favored by the fact that the farther a district of 

 Europe is from those Asiatic steppes, i. e., from the original home of the horse, 

 the later does the tamed horse seem to have made its historic appearance in it. 

 The supposition is further confirmed by the fact that horse-raising among almost 

 every tribe appears as an art derived from neighbormg tribes in the East or 

 Northeast. Even in Homer the ox appears exclusively as the draught-animal in 

 land operations at home and in the field, while the horse was used for purposes 

 of war only. Its employment in military operations was determined by swiftness 

 alone. That the value of the horse must originally have depended on its fieet- 

 ness, can easily be inferred from the name which is repeated in all the branches 

 of the Indo-European language, and signifies nearly "hastening," "quick." 

 The same fact is exemplified by the descriptions of the oldest poets, who, next 

 to its courage, speak most of its swiftness. — Popular Science Monthly for June. 



A meteorological observatory has been built on the summit of the Pic du 

 Midi in the French Pyrenees. Preparations are now being made for the next 

 six months' blockade by the snowstorms. 



