REVIEW.—ON THE CONFORMATION OF THE HORSE. 43 
After premising a few general observations touching the nature 
or original country of the horse—which, after all, for certain “ ap¬ 
pears unknown—and giving an outline of his zoologic and generic 
characters, M. Richard proceeds to describe, in detail, every indi¬ 
vidual part or section of the body of the animal, commencing with 
the head and finishing with the foot. Of course, the great bulk of 
these descriptions is common-place—such as is, or rather ought to 
be, taught in all schools, or as is contained in Bourgelat’s and all who 
have of necessity followed in the same track of truthful delineation. 
But M. Richard has interlarded his descriptions with physiological 
observations and remarks of a character such as demand that we 
should on the present occasion serve up to the best advantage to 
our readers; and which will shew thein that he, as an author, ought 
to be far from being regarded as a servile follower of those who in 
the same departments of science have preceded him. For example, 
he characterizes 
“ The Head, as being, in the animal kingdom, one of the most 
interesting parts for study of the vertebrate species, on account 
of the important purposes it answers. Jt includes the principal 
organs of sense, and Nature has disposed its osseous system to 
receive and protect these organs, and to put them into the best 
possible condition to answer the end they nre designed for. The 
head also contains the organs of mastication. And from the teeth 
being the indices of age, the head is of great consideration in a 
commercial point of view. We would likewise remark, in the 
study of the head as a whole, on certain 'physiognomic characters , no 
less useful to us in determining the breed and blood of the animal 
than in estimating its nobleness of disposition and moral cha¬ 
racter.” 
This last observation is sufficient to shew that Richard’s mind 
is not totally insensible to that species of information which those 
whose experience among horses is greatest know best how to 
collect and appreciate, viz. physiognomy, or, rather, phrenology. 
We have long harboured a desire that some able pen, in union 
with some apt pencil, would take up so interesting, and, we may 
add, in some important points of view, useful a subject. Animals’ 
heads and visages afford to the observant eye a certain kind of 
knowledge, which to another, indifferent about or incapable of 
estimating such matters, comes but too late. Disposition, temper, 
