436 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



Their ears being large, and having great mobility in the 

 external conch, the sense of hearing is consequently ex- 

 tremely tine. It is probably that one which they possess in 

 the greatest perfection, a fact observable in all animals 

 naturally timid*. At the slightest motion, the least appear- 

 ance of an object that is new to them, they stop and listen 

 with the utmost attention. 



Their sense of smell is very delicate, and they frequently 

 exercise it, especially on objects which excite in them any 

 suspicion Their sense of feeling seems also very fine. 



In their forms, proportions, and movements, are indicated 

 an equal degree of strength and agility. The Horse is the 

 only animal in which a thick body is not incompatible with 

 gracefulness. The rounded crupper, the firm humerus, 

 the broad sternum, the powerful femur, and the long and 

 sinewy leg, all evince vigour and elasticity. The head is 

 not comparatively so light and elegant as that of some 

 other animals, but it is capable of the varied yet united 

 expression of docility and pride, of courage and of caution. 



Our domestic Horses of the middle size, and common 

 race, may serve to give us a correct idea of the forms and 

 characteristic traits of the different species of this genus, 

 though not of the physiognomy. Among them all the dif- 

 ferences consist alone in colour, or in the proportions of 

 some external parts of the organs of sense and motion, or, 

 finally, in their intellectual dispositions. The Saddle-Horses, 

 of such fine forms and elegant proportions, whose motion 

 is so light, and whose docility is so great, and the thick 



* I have made the same observation on individuals of this cha- 

 racter among the human species. Timid females have usually a 

 very fine sense of hearing. People born blind, or long blind, are 

 usually in the same predicament. This sense is also more nearly 

 connected with mental quickness than is usually supposed. I 

 never knew a very stupid person whose sense of hearing was not 

 naturally dull.— E. P. 



