i8S5.j 
Horse in Europe. 281 
in-breeding. All this, and much more, gives rise to a de- 
generation which is shown not merely in the outward 
appearance of the animals, but even in the skeleton. Not 
until man has advanced so far in cultivation that he 
bestows upon his domesticated animals the necessary care 
as dictated by a sound appreciation of the factors essential 
to a sound development of each species, and when besides 
tne animals themselves have become accustomed in the 
course of many generations to the changed mode of life 
ue o omesticity, do the bodies of tame animals again 
become larger and stronger, so that they mav often 
fathers 116 mean Stature and stren g th of their wild fore- 
This may be proved from the history of the horse, as 
well as from that of other domestic species. But it must 
not be inferred that all the horses now existing in Europe 
can be traced to the wild horse of the Diluvial epoch, 
buch a contention would be easily refuted. It is certain 
that foreign horses were brought into Central and Western 
Euiope, m part from Central Asia and in part from the 
Mediterranean lands. This was effected both in pre- 
nstoncal and historical times, by wandering tribes and by 
commerce. Especially the so-called Oriental horse has 
een used in the last centuries for breeding a superior 
class of horses,— especially saddle-horses, — and has im- 
pressed a new type upon an essential portion of our present 
race of horses. 
it is certain to all who do not absolutely ignore 
aCts that Asia is not the exclusive home of the horse. 
Lutope has for ages untold possessed horses, wild at first, 
but aftei waids in part domesticated. The descendants of 
these tame horses bred on European soil may still be seen 
in the so-called “ common horse ” where not modified by 
crossing with foreign blood. 
VOL. vii. (third series) 
X 
