I40 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



Most people, without reflecting, might be dis- 

 posed to assert, and to back their opinion, that 

 more books on the horse have been written in 

 EngHsh than in any other language ; but, assuming 

 Captain Huth's Bibliography to be tolerably com- 

 plete, the careful analysis which I have made by 

 reference to it shows that this impression is 

 erroneous. English writers on hippology are, 

 doubtless, numerous enough ; but they do not 

 stand at the head of the list. Up to the year 1886 

 they may be credited with 950 works, of which 185 

 were printed before 1800; 120 more before 1825 ; 

 another 180 before 1850; and since that date no 

 less than 464. If to these we add the 34 

 English books printed in America since 1850, and 

 I in Australia in 1864, we have a total not far 

 short of 1000. Of these it may be safely asserted 

 that a large proportion at the present day would 

 be difficult to meet with, and if found would prove 

 of not much value. The names of those who have 

 written for all time would not make a very long 

 list, although it should be observed that many 

 works of perhaps little intrinsic merit are sometimes 

 of value as illustrating the growth of knowledge on 

 the subject of which they treat. 



The earliest English works relating to the horse 

 are concerned chiefly with hunting, and cannot be 

 said to refer so much to the horse individually, or 

 his management, as to the wild animals which he 

 enables his owner to chase. It is only because 

 they relate to hunting that they have any claim 

 to be included in a bibliography of hippology. 



