ON BREEDING. 385 
V ^ • * 
awakens the attention of the observer. The animated intelligence 
of the eye, the fire and expression of a well-formed head, when 
inspired by any particular passion, may well be considered as a 
tablet where the secret springs of the mind may be traced in 
characters strongly marked, and almost convince us that 
“ Looks in them are the language of the mind.” 
Deportment and actions are probably the best index to the 
different characters. The ears of horses are supposed to be good 
criterions of their dispositions. 
“ For temper watch his head; 
And if he greet your gently stroking hand 
With ears laid backwards, and projecting snout, 
Proceed elsewhere, and make another choice.” 
Horses who carry one ear forward, and the other backward, 
during a journey, are usually considered to be animals of spirit, 
and not easily fatigued. The reason is obvious: a good horse 
pays attention to every thing passing around him, and directs his 
ears in different positions, to gather sound from every point. 
In tracing the organizations of animals, through all the gra¬ 
dations in the scale, we find man at the top, displaying faculties 
superior to any thing visible in the most perfect forms of brute 
creation. The perfection of his intellectual faculties is gene¬ 
rally supposed to be owing to the size and structure of the brain, 
and, as the brain exactly fills up the cavity of the cranium, the 
figure of the skull has been used to denote the comparative size 
of that organ. 
The scale of intellect is very extensive among mankind, from 
the civilized European to the stupid and brutal negro; for the 
mind of the negro is not so perfect as that of the European, nor 
is the organization of the parts so perfect. And as, among men, 
there are different degrees of intellect, so among horses there are 
often remarkable differences. 
On viewing the heads of a cart and a blood-horse, we are im¬ 
mediately struck with the difference in their appearance ; the 
former exhibiting a dull, heavy, stupid uniformity of features, 
whilst the latter shows a spirited, animated-looking countenance, 
that actually, as Shakespear says, “ enforces homage.” 
On taking a comparative view of each, as an anatomist, we 
find the cranium of the thorough-bred proportionably larger than 
that of the cart-horse ; if, then, the various degrees of intellect be 
explained by the difference of size in the cerebral parts in men, 
the same comparison may be drawn with reference to the degrees 
of understanding possessed by the different breeds of horses. 
VOL. III. ' 3 F 
