UrlnrU). 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid tuipe, quid utile, quid non. -Hor. 
A Comparative View of the Form and Character of the English 
Racer and Saddle-horse during the last and present Centuries. 
Illustrated by eighteen Plates of Ilorses. London : Hook ham. 
Old Bond Street, 1836. 
We feel a degree of pleasure in introducing the work now 
lying open before us to our readers, not only from its affording 
them, as well as ourselves, some change from the monotony of 
relations of cases with which our Journal is, confessedly, apt 
to be redolent, but also from its bringing under our combined 
notice a subject which, in the hurried march of improvement, 
seems undeservedly to have lost much of its importance. In 
breeding and rearing animals of all kinds, not excepting the 
lords of the creation themselves, it is universally seen, that art 
has contrived means to enlarge their structure and enhance 
their physical powers ; but it does not seem to have been so 
generally observed, or, if noticed, had sufficient regard paid to 
it, that while art was thus achieving for us, to all appearances, 
most desirable ends, she was sacrificing a portion of Nature’s 
inherent energy, or vital power — her vis iusita y or vigour — the 
loss or dimunition of which rendered the animal, so impaired by 
art, a much more tender production than the original stock. 
This is not only the case with animals, but it holds good in 
regard to vegetables likewise : we by culture and artificial heat 
obtain a finer plant, but it proves unfit to contend with frosts 
and storms, which pass over the natural herb with impunity. 
Although we are most certainly gainers therefore, and to a great 
amount, in our present system of breeding and rearing horses, 
there cannot be a doubt but that w e, at the same time, are losers ; 
that the wild horse can undergo, if not greater fatigue, at least 
greater privations than the domesticated animal ; and, conse- 
quently, it becomes an interesting question to learn how far it 
is advisable to lay aside nature for art; or rather, to what extent 
the two may be most advantageously combined. This appears 
to be the object of the work before us. 
The trite remark of the breeder, that “ it must all go in at 
the mouth,” is almost of itself sufficient to shew that what our 
author calls “ enlargement of structure,” luxuriant growth — is 
the effect of food, rich in quality and abundant in quantity; 
subsidiary to which may be taken into account, temperature and 
general care or management. An animal thus artificially pro- 
duced requires artificial sustenance. And “ to what,” observes 
VOL. IX. h h 
