23 
when the bilious was nearly pure, or with a tinge of the lymphatic, as in some 
mouse-colored horses, there was great muscular power with less excitability. 
Chestnut horses were of a mixed temperament, greatly akin to the bilious - 
sanguine, which, was less developed in those with black feet. The bilious-sanguine 
temperament in horses as in men was accompanied by an impatient disposition, 
but by great strength and spirit. Noble and generous qualities were more common 
amongst light colored breeds, which united intelligence and strength, and which might 
be compared with men with yellow hair, whose dispositions were more commonly 
gentler than those possessing hair of a darker color, and who were also often 
not deficient in vigour. This yellow hair was an indication of a more evenly 
balanced temperament than that of black or chestnut horses. The temperament, 
he said, was but an external indication of the various systems of the body, and 
when evenly balanced was most commonly accompanied by a good constitution. 
Hence the great endurance shewn by men and horses with yellow hair, which 
pointed to this evenly-balanced constitution. 
.The author then considered the breeds of horses in many countries, and found 
analogies between them and their masters, in Arabia, Khiva, Egypt, Chaldea, 
Persia, Armenia, Scythia, and Rome. Roman horses, like Roman citizens, came 
from an immense variety of localities. The Barbary horses were early brought 
from that country into Spain, and perhaps contributed eventually to the forma- 
tion of the jennets, a high-spirited and noble breed. They shewed an extraor- 
dinary amount of freedom of movement, and were of the same stock probably as 
the Lusitanian or Portuguese horses, which, according to Justin, were " born of 
the winds.'' These were the types of the Moors — emigrants from Africa — who 
so greatly contributed to the advancement of civilization in the Peninsula; and 
they were suitable ancestors of the cavalry of Cortes and Pizarro. The most 
useful horses were the product of the union of greatly differing breeds. Mr. 
Napier considered the 'cobs' a type of the middle class amongst men, and pro- 
ceeded to trace the history of the English breeds of horses, shewing how the 
state of horseflesh was an index of that of civilization in England at least ; and 
concluded that man who could breed horses and other animals suited to his 
purpose, and produce modifications in them, in accordance with his will, was 
bound to apply similar principles to the improvement of his own species, which 
he had equal power to do. " For all history," he said " informs us how vices, 
diseases, and short lives are hereditary, and how long life, morality, and intelli- 
gence are alike transmitted from parents." 
The President, in inviting discussion, said that the author had been 
very successful in pointing out the analogy sought to be drawn, but he 
could not quite agree with him in thinking that the horse had been 
created for man's use. He pointed out that, if concurrently with investi- 
gations into the early races of men, search were made as to where other 
animals were first found, the result would show that, before the earliest 
man, came into existence those tribes which have since been domesticated 
by man. Mr. Sanders also pointed out the great anatomical differences 
between the early geological horse, and the present race, which were so 
numerous as to cause Prof. Owen to assign a different generic name to the 
fossil horse. 
