■188 
ON BREEDING, 
We leam fiom natural history, that the horse* was originally 
a native of the old world, and by care and perseverance has 
een generated in the new. His primitive form must have been 
similar to the Eastern breed, since Asia has always been regarded 
as the country from whence sprung, not only our first parents, but 
there also are to be found all the animals, in their wild state, which 
man has domesticated, such as the “ cowf, ass, sheep, goat, 
camel, pig, dog, cat, and even the serviceable rein-deer, man's 
only attendant and friend in the icy deserts of the frozen polar 
regions. The horses of different countries are in general distin¬ 
guished from each other by a peculiar and appropriate conforma- 
1011 ; indeed, their diversities and gradations are so multifarious 
as almost to appear as if they did not altogether belong to the 
same species; yet, although there is this singular variation in 
their form and features, there is, at the same time, a most admi- 
iable uniformity m the whole; for there appears in nature a general 
archetype, upon which all horses are modelled, which is deterio¬ 
rated or improved by adventitious circumstances, such as climate, 
diversity * ^ ^ 0t ^ externa * causes > without any original 
We will now take a cursory survey of the horses of different 
countries, and afterwards consider the cause of the variation of 
their species. 
Great Britain. 
She gave the horse, and gives the olive too. Parnell. 
No country can boast of producing so many different kinds of 
horses, to such high perfection, as the English. We have been 
tor many centuries celebrated for our superior breed ; and at the 
present day, through the introduction of foreign blood, and the 
worfd , natUre ° f the S011, we P° ssess a variety that challenges the 
“ To thee is given 
To breed the sprightly steed, more fleet than those 
-Begot by winds.” 
The qualities of our horses were clearly proved in the late war 
where our cavalry showed over those of our allies, as well as of 
durability a SUpenont > r > both in P oint of strength and 
The period at which Britain was first supplied with horses, and 
the district from which they proceeded, are subjects entirely open 
o the conjectures of the inquisitive. It would be natural to sup- 
Equtis caballus, canda undiquc scfosa. 
Lawrence s Physiological Lectures. 
Linn. Syst, Nat, 
