UNION. 



refpondence of the parts of the whole. The legs and 

 flioulders of a horfc fupport, as we have faid, the greatell 

 part of his weight ; and, therefore, his fore-part, either 

 when he is in motion, or in a ftate of reft, is always em- 

 ployed, a:)d confequently needs the afliftance of art to cafe 

 it ; and in this confifts the miion or putting together, which, 

 by fetting the horfe upon his haunches, counterbalances and 

 relieves his fore-part. Befides, the union not only helps 

 and relieves the part of the horfe that is the weakeft, but it 

 is fo ncceftary to every horfe, that no horfe that is difunited 

 can go freely : he can neither leap nor gallop with agility 

 and hghtnefs, nor run without being in manifeft danger of 

 falling, and pitching himfelf headlong ; becaufe his motions 

 have no harmony nor agreement with one another. The 

 trot is very efEcacious in bringing a horfe to this union ; ;'. e. 

 the trot, in which he is fupported and kept together, and 

 yet fuppled at the fame time : this compels the horfe to 

 put himfelf together, and to coUeft and unite his ftrength. 

 In order to fupport the horfe in this trot, the horfeman 

 fliould hold his hand near his body, keeping his horfe to- 

 gether a little, and having his legs near his fides. The 

 effeft of the hand is to confine and raife the fore -parts of 

 the horfe ; the effe£l of the legs is to pulh and drive for- 

 ward the hinder parts. Now, if the fore-parts are kept 

 back or confined, and the hinder parts are driven forward, 

 the horfe, in a quick motion, fuch as the trot, muft necef- 

 farily fit down upon his haunches, and unite and put him- 

 felf together. For the fame reafon, the making of your 

 horfe to launch out vigoroufly in his trot, and the quicken- 

 ing of his cadence from time to time, the putting of him 

 to make pefades, the Hopping of him, and making him to 

 go backward, will all contribute towards his acquiring the 

 union. If your horfe trots, prefs him a hltle ; in the in- 

 ftant when he redoubles and quickens his aftion, moderate 

 and fhorten the hurry of his pace ; and the more he preffes 

 to go forward, the more will his being checked and confined 

 tend to unite his limbs, and the union will be owing to op- 

 pofite caufes ; i)/'z. on the one hand, to the ardour of the 

 horfe who preftes to go forward, and to the diligence and 

 attention of the horfeman on the other, who, by holding 

 him in, flackens the pace, and raifes the fore-parts of the 

 creature, and at the fame time diilributes his ftrength equally 

 to all his limbs. The aftion of a horfe, when going back- 

 ward, is dircftly oppofite to his abandoning himfelf upon 

 his (houldcrs : by this he is compelled to put himfelf upon 

 his haunches ; and this Iclfon is fo much the more effeftual, 

 as the caufe of a horfe's being difunited is often owing to 

 the pain he feels in bending his haunches. 



The pefades have not lefs effeft, efpecially upon horfcs 

 that are clumfy and hcavy-(houldercd ; becaufe they are 

 thus taught to ufe them and raife them up ; and when they 

 raife them up, it neceffarily follows, that their whole weight 

 muft be thrown upon their haunches. A light and gentle 

 hand, then, and the aids of the legs, judicioufly managed, 

 are capable of giving a horfe the union ; but before a liorfe 

 is put upon his haunches, his fore-part muft be lightened, 

 and he muft acquire that fupplenefs, which is the fource of 

 li-ght and free aftion. Nothing can fiipple the fhoulder 

 more than the working of a horfe upon large circles ; walk 

 him firft round the circle, in order to make him know his 

 ground ; afterwards try to draw his head in, or towards the 

 centre, by means of your inner rein and inner leg : e. gr. I 

 work my horfe upon a circle ; and I go to the right ; I 

 draw iiis head to the right, by pulling the right rein ; 

 I bring in his outward flioulder by means of the left rein ; 

 and I fupport him at the fame time with my inner leg, 

 'J'hus the horfe has his head in the centre, although the 



3 



croupe is at liberty. The right leg crofT^is over the left 

 leg ; and the right Ihoulder is fuppled, while the left leg 

 fupports the whole weight of the horfe in the aftion. In 

 working him to the left hand, and following the fame me- 

 thod, the left ftioulder is fuppled, and the right is prelfed 

 and confined. When this leflon, which tends not only to 

 fupple the (houlders, but likewile to give an appui, is well 

 comprehended by the horfe, let him be led along the fide of 

 the wall. Having placed his head, the horfeman is to make 

 ufe of the inner rein, which draws in his head, aid to bri^ig 

 in his outward fhoulder by means of the other rein. In tliis 

 pofture the horfeman fupports him with his inner leg, and 

 he goes along the wall ; his croupe being out, and at liberty, 

 and his inner leg paffing over and croffing his outward leg 

 at every itep he makes. By this his neck and (houlders are 

 fuppled, his haunches worked, and he is taught to know 

 the heels. The haunches are thus worked, though the 

 croupe of the horfe is at liberty ; becaufe it is from the 

 fore-parts only that a horfe can be upon his haunches. In 

 effeft, after having placed his head, draw it in, and you will 

 lengthen his croupe : if you raife him higher before than 

 behind, his legs come under his belly, and confequently he 

 bends his haunches. It is the fame when he conies down 

 hill, his croupe, being higher than his fore-parts, is puftied 

 under him, and the horfe is upon his haunches ; fince it is 

 evident, that the hinder fupport all the fore-parts ; there- 

 fore, in going along the fide of the wall, by means of the 

 inner rein, the horfe is put together and united. When a 

 horfe has acquired union, he becomes able to undertake and 

 execute, with juftnefs and grace, whatever the horfeman 

 demands of him, conformably to his ftrength and difpofi- 

 tion. Berenger's Art of Horfemanftiip, vol. ii. chap. 7. 



Union by thcjirjl Intention, in Surgery, denotes the pro- 

 cefs by which the oppofite furfaces of recent wounds grow 

 together and unite witliout fuppuration, when they are kept 

 in contact with each other. It is obferved by profeftbr 

 Thonifon, that among the various powers inherent in living 

 animals, there is none more interefting to the furgeon, nor 

 more remarkable in the eyes of a philofophical obferver, 

 than that by which wounds are healed, or by which the dif- 

 ferent parts of animal bodies, that have been recently di- 

 vided, either by accident or defign, are made to reunite with 

 each other. This is a power, the effefts of which in the 

 human body are fo obvious and important, that it would not 

 fail at a very early period to attraft, in fonac degree, the at- 

 tention of every obferver of nature ; and accordingly we 

 find, from the records of medicine, that the various circum- 

 ilances which promote, retard, or prevent the healing of 

 wpunds, have at all times been more or lefs known to the 

 praftitioners of the healing art. A very fiight degree of 

 obfervation, however, muft foon have been furacient to con- 

 vince them, that the phenomena which the healing of 

 wounds exhibits, are neither fimple in their nature, nor uni- 

 form in the order of their appearance ; but variable accord- 

 ing to the kind of wound, and the mode of treatment, 

 which, in the diff^crent extcinal and internal conditions of 

 the body, is employed for its cure. 



In fiight wounds, inflifted by the (harper kinds of inftru- 

 ments, fays the fame author, even the moft inattentive me- 

 dical praftitioners muft have feen, that a reunion is often 

 fpeedily etfefted merely by keeping the edges of the wound 

 in contaft with each other ; whereas in wounds in which the 

 divided furfaces are much torn or bruifed, or where, from 

 retraftion, or lofs of fubllance, they cannot be brought into 

 contaft, the healing is always accomplifhcd lu a much flower, 

 more uncertain, and more complicated manner. Thcfe Ji- 

 vcrfities in the proccfs of reunion (conliuucs Dr. Thomfon), 



arc 



