HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 
693 
medicinal virtues, as the milk of the same animal is thought 
to do at the present day. Quarters of this beast were formerly 
exposed for sale in the market-place of antient Athens ; and 
now, it is said, that asses 5 flesh constitutes the main bulk of 
genuine Bologna sausages. The moderns, therefore, have 
not altogether lost the relish for this description of food, for, 
not to dwell upon the illicit sale of horse-flesh in the French 
capital, the consumption of asses 5 milk and Bologna sausages 
in this country denotes a taste w 7 hich once was universal, but 
is now only daintily exhibited towards a particular creature 
of the equine race. 
Acceptable as the flesh of the horse may have been to the 
palates of the early representatives of mankind, it is not pro- 
bable that they were able to indulge to excess on this kind of 
food. The animal was difficult to approach, and could hardly 
be taken by surprise. Once alarmed, pursuit was hopeless, 
and in a close encounter the issue w^ould have been very 
doubtful. It is therefore probable that the horse was origi- 
ginally captured by means of pitfalls, and similar practices 
common to all barbarians. The carcase was alone desired, 
and the life of the victim of course in no way regarded. 
This state of things would continue until the human race 
began to cultivate the earth, about, which time, probably, 
man became by slow degrees desirous of some assistance in 
his toil. At first the horse would not appear to be the 
creature likely to render the desired help. Smaller animals, 
more easily captured and more readily tamed, would naturally 
be selected at the beginning ; but as the inefficiency of these 
became apparent, and man became aware of the mastery 
with which nature had endowed him, the experiment would 
be enlarged. From the goat, sheep, ox, and ass, up to the 
horse, a kind of natural gradation can be traced, and probably 
somewhat in this order did the human mind learn its power 
over the beasts of the field. 
There are many stories told of the manner in which the 
horse was tamed, but as all these tales represent the brute 
as caught in the adult state, and subdued by a single indivi- 
dual, none of them can be regarded in any other light than 
that of a fable. The most perfect horseman, or most accom- 
plished brute tamer, has in modern times found himself 
incapable of breaking in the Zebra, and there can be no 
reason to suppose the ancient savage was possessed of a 
particular prowess. These stories likewise represent the 
original horse-breakers as taking to the business after they 
had attained to manhood, whereas it is only by constant 
practice from the earliest youth that a firm <f seat 55 can be 
xxvii. 90 
