XXiX, 
be they the most anthropomorphic, or be they the most abstruse of religious 
or scientific dogmas. Even those who regard the Evolution Theory as final—- 
and there are very few; if any, who do so—are logically compelled, as we 
have said, to introduce an unknown power, for they have recourse to the most 
unsatisfactory of all factors—that called Chance. Either Chance means 
practically nothing at all, either it means that facts, which are manifestly 
great, are to be explained by a very small and insignificant cause, or it really 
implies a Great Unknown Power. In fact, this belief in one power of some 
kind, more or less powerful, may be said to be one, in possessing which, all men 
agree. Such an assumption, is in reality, one of the indispensable conditions 
of thought. In Evolution we have the dim notion of a method, and, when 
this is realized, the question still presents itself,—What is it, or rather, Who 
. 1s it—who guides this process?’ What causes this gradual growth which is 
palpably .going on, and so far as we can determine, in the direction of 
Advance and Progress? What causes Evolution? Some may be satisfied 
with the answer, “We don’t know.” ‘Let us, however, while acknowledging 
this in some sense, as, indeed, we are compelled to do, look for and recognise 
a higher ideal, and boldly acknowledge the Almighty and Inscrutable Power 
which, try as they will, men cannot refrain from postulating in some form at 
least. 
The Evolution hypothesis has exerted the very greatest influence on all 
the sciences ; but on no kind of knowledge has it had more effect than on the 
veterinary branch. The development of all higher animals from lower types 
has now been abundantly attested by geological investigations. In common 
with other animals, the horse, ox, sheep, pig, and dog have arisen from 
simpler and more highly generalized forms. The gradual production of the 
horse from creatures having five perfect toes on each limb, has been estab- 
lished, beyond the possibility of doubt. The gradual loss of all toes except 
the central one, which is now provided with two rudimentary appendages, 
called splint bones, is one of the facts which show us how the horse has 
been steadily modified in a definite direction, since the time of what is 
technically called the Eocene period, until at length this animal has assumed 
the present well-known shape and proport tions. Such facts as these are well 
known. Great, however, as has been the infliience of new ideas, the advantages 
already derived are immeasurably enhanced by their importance as guides 
to the methods of modern research. 
At the present time, it may be truly said that a wave of knowledge is 
sweeping many erroneous notions away, though this is not being effected 
without trouble and some annoyance. Work is not done,.and cannot be 
done, it seems, without a great amount of friction. There has always been, 
for instance, a certain amount of jealousy between the so-called practical 
and the so-called theoretical people. It is high time this was done away 
with. It is a common belief among the populace, and even among some 
of the most highly educated—and there is no class of men who adhere to 
this delusion more rigidly and obstinately than many of those who have to 
do with horses—that there are two distinct divisions into which all know- 
ledge may be divided, viz.:—theory and practice. Perhaps no opinion has 
