THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THIRD SERIES. 



Vol. XIV.] APBIL, 1890. [No. J 60. 



THE HORSE AND ITS HISTORIANS. 

 By the Editoe. 



If we consider its antiquity as a domesticated animal, and 

 its great utility to man— greater, perhaps, than that of any other 

 species — it is not surprising that the Horse should have furnished 

 a theme for writers in all ages and in every civilised country. The 

 works which have been written on its natural history, anatomy, 

 and physiology; its dentition, diseases, and cures; its use and 

 treatment in relation to agriculture, cavalry, hunting, and racing ; 

 with treatises innumerable on equitation, breaking, training, and 

 stable management; bits and bridles, saddles, and harness of 

 every description — would form a library of no mean proportions. 

 And should anyone feel disposed to collect all the works that 

 have been written relating to the Horse, he would have to provide 

 shelf-room for at least 4000 volumes. 



We have been at the pains to count the titles quoted in the 

 most recent bibliography on the subject,* and find that, exclusive 

 of editions and translations, there have appeared since the days 

 of Xenophon (b. c. 380) down to the issue of the volumes on 

 Hunting and Kacing in the ' Badminton Library' (a. d. 1886), no 

 less than 3800 works in eighteen different languages. We have 

 been at the further trouble to apportion the titles of all these 



* 'Works on Horses and Equitation: a Bibliographical Record of 

 Hippology.' By F. H. Huth. Sm. 4to, pp. 440. London : Quaritch. 1888. 

 ZOOLOGIST. APRIL, 1890. L 



