36 



SKETCH OF THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE, 



the amount of muscular force required in performing its various voluntary- 

 movements. We cannot, by an effort of will, move any one particular muscle 

 of our body; but we can cause our limbs to perfoim definite movements 

 which will require the combined action of vaiious muscles, and which are 

 under the control of the cerebellum. 



The cerebrum is the organ of intellect, thought, and will. '' Removal of 

 the cerebrum in the lower animals appears to reduce them to a condition of 

 a mechanism without spontaneity. A pigeon from which the cerebrum has 

 been removed will remain motionless and apparently unconscious unless 

 distuibed. When disturbed in any way, it soon recovers its former position. 

 When thrown into the air it ilies" {Kirke's Physiology). The cerebrum 

 appears to be the organ in which a conclusion or thought is formed from a 

 message or number of messages proceeding from the senses. If, for instance, 

 a man standing near a horse's hind-quarters touches him with a stick, and 

 if the animal kicks the stick, he will perform, more or less, a reflex action. 

 If, however, the horse recognises who the real offending paity is, and kicks 

 the man, he will have drawn a conclusion from the message received from 

 his sense of feeling and of sight, and will have acted on such conclusion, 

 which would be, more or less, an effort of reason. 



Among the intellectual faculties, of which the ceiebrum is the special 

 organ, we have, prominently, reason and memory. Although the horse is 

 greatly deficient in the former, which is by far the higher faculty of the two, 

 he possesses the latter in special excellence. 



The cerebium is placed immediately underneath the forehead, at the 

 centre of which it is covered by only a thin plate of bone. The cerebellum, 

 which, in the horse, is a great deal smaller than the cerebrum, lies below the 

 {occipital crest) top of the head, when the face is held at an angle of about 

 45° with the giound. 



The pioportion which the weight of the brain bears to that of the 

 spinal cord, is regarded by many as a fair guide to the intellectual 

 capacity of an animal. The following is a list of a few examples of the 

 average number of times the brain is heavier than the spinal cord in certain 

 animals \~ 



Ln man » 







• 33 



» dog » 







. 5.14 



„ cat . 







• 3.7s 



„ ass 







2.40 



» pig • 







2.30 



„ hoise . 







2.27 



„ ox . 







. 2.18 



The order of intellectual capacity given in the above table agrees fairly 

 well with the conclusions drawn from experience. 



