8 
.T. C. MEYER. SR. 
The fate of nations is dependent upon the number and use of 
the equidse. In all history it is apparent that those nations which 
were rich in horses were always superior to and conquered those 
who had few or no horses. For instances, the Hyksos conquered 
ancient Egypt with the aid of their horses. The Magyars in¬ 
vaded Germany, Italy and even France on their horses. The 
spread of the Mohammedan religion is due to a great extent to 
the horse. Also in the conquest of America the horse rendered 
the Spaniards efficient services. Thus it follows that more is 
known of the development of horse breeding than of any of the 
other domestic animals. 
By comparing the relative conditions of extant animals and 
fragments of fossils, the history of the development of our 
domestic animals was made known piece-meal by different promi¬ 
nent naturalists, and finally an entire picture was presented. 
This is particularly true of the horse, whose ancestors, by clear 
and distinct progression, gradually attained the present stage of 
development. 
Huxley is entitled to special credit for having (in his lectures 
delivered in America) presented the theory of development in 
such popular style as to be easily comprehended by the public, 
while Kowalewski, Butimever, Marsh, Burmeister and others, 
wrote in a style intelligible only to paleontologists, or at least 
such who are well versed in anatomy and geology. 
The family equidaB is commonly divided into three species; 
horse, ass and zebra. Of the four-footed vertebrates this group 
occupies the foremost rank. 
The trunk of the horse rests on four limbs. The anterior 
limbs each comprise shoulder blade, arm, forearm, knee- 
joint, canon bone, two splint bones, pastern, coronary and coffin 
bones, two sesamoidal bones and a navicular bone; the posterior 
limbs consist of the thigh, leg, hock-joint, canon bone, two splint 
bones, pastern, coronary and coffin bones, two sesamoidal bones 
and a navicular bone. The extremity of the horse’s foot is en¬ 
closed in a solid horny capsule. 
If the fore foot of the horse be compared with the human 
hand, and the hind foot with the human foot, a certain similarity 
