348 
W. BRYDEN. 
he applied it would possibly he found that the average physically, 
of a herd of wild animals, would be little below that of an equal 
number of those reared in domestication. 
In the horse, strength, endurance and locomotion are indis¬ 
pensable qualities. They have not the “ royal brain ” of man, 
especially when educated to supplement inferiority of organiza¬ 
tion, consequently, although we may find among them individuals 
superior to any found in a wild state, yet we also find many 
lower down in the scale—some links in the chain are so weak, 
that as a whole it is worthless—chiefly from inferiority in the 
character of their locomotive organs. 
When youth, with its natural habits and the freedom then 
enjoyed, is exchanged for the restraints that follow, they become 
more subject, not only to such diseases as result from changes of 
temperature and of food, but their feet, from the liability of the 
hoofs to acquire growths that are undesirable, are affected ad¬ 
versely by the new surroundings. 
Defective form of the hoof, Dr. Fleming says, causes “ not only 
disturbances in the direction of the limb and its movements, but 
considerably modifies the growth of the horn.” From the nature 
of its tissues, the important functions required of it, and the 
variety of circumstances under which it is grown, we find a 
variety of different forms and qualities, some healthy, many de¬ 
fective. Among those that may be classed as healthy we find, for 
example, large hoofs and small hoofs, with modifications of each 
within the range of soundness, and just as such hoofs determine 
the differences in the character of the limbs when healthy, do 
those that are defective determine the particular diseases the limb 
is liable to be affected with It is the medium through which the 
influences of different surroundings are exerted in a right or 
wrong direction, and the medium through which restorations can 
be accomplished, even without the aid of applications to other 
parts. A knowledge of how to manage and cultivate this 
remarkable organism is therefore indispensable to the attainment 
of perfection of physical organization in these animals, and as 
such knowledge can only be acquired through a careful study 
of its history and the influences that affect its growth, we will 
