96 



THE HORSE, ASS, AND MULE 



breeds, states i that the nearly perfect skull of a prehistoric horse 

 excavated in the Seine valley, in 1868, very closely resembled a 

 Percheron skull. There has been a variety of opinion in France re- 

 garding the origin of the breed, but in no case have we specific 

 and substantial information. All is based on theory. Probably the 



Fig. 31. A map of northwestern France, the shaded parts indicating the Percheron 

 country, as well as the home of the Nivernais horse and the Poitiers ass 



opinion of the veterinarian M. Gautier, as quoted by Sanders and 

 Dinsmore,2 is about right. Speaking at a congress of farmers, held 

 in 1843 at Mortagne, this Frenchman is credited with the following: 



Every man who has up to this time written on French and foreign breeds 

 says that the Percheron is of Brittany origin. As proof, nothing. Each writer, 

 m consulting his predecessor, has reproduced the same opinion. One writer 



^ L'origine des races francaises de chevaux, Vol. Ill, p. 95. 



^ A. H. Sanders and Wayne Dinsmore, A History of the Percheron Horse. 



Chicago, 1917. 



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