xxvi. 26), who describes its wood as red and easily split, classes the

hornbeam with maples.

The American hornbeam, blue or water beech, is _Carpinus americana_ (also known as _C. caroliniana_); the common hop-hornbeam, a native of the south of Europe, is a member of a closely allied genus, _Ostrya vulgaris_, the allied American species, _O. virginiana_, is also known as ironwood from its very hard, tight, close-grained wood.

HORNBILL, the English name long generally given to all the birds of the family _Bucerotidae_ of modern ornithologists, from the extraordinary horn-like excrescence (_epithema_) developed on the bill of most of the species, though to which of them it was first applied seems doubtful. Among classical authors Pliny had heard of such animals, and mentions them (_Hist. Nat._ lib. x. cap. lxx.) under the name of _Tragopan_; but he deemed their existence fabulous, comparing them with _Pegasi_ and _Gryphones_--in the words of Holland, his translator (vol. i. p. 296)--"I thinke the same of the Tragopanades, which many men affirme to bee greater than the Aegle; having crooked hornes like a Ram on either side of the head, of the colour of yron, and the head onely red." Yet this is but an exaggerated description of some of the species with which doubtless his informants had an imperfect acquaintance. Medieval writers found Pliny's bird to be no fable, for specimens of the beak of one species or another seem occasionally to have been brought to Europe, where they were preserved in the cabinets of the curious, and thus Aldrovandus was able to describe pretty fairly and to figure (_Ornithologia_, lib. xii. cap. xx. tab. x. fig. 7) one of them under the name of "_Rhinoceros Avis_," though the rest of the bird was wholly unknown to him. When the exploration of the East Indies had extended farther, more examples reached Europe, and the "_Corvus Indicus cornutus_" of Bontius became fully recognized by Willughby and Ray, under the title of the "Horned Indian Raven or _Topau_ called the Rhinocerot Bird." Since the time of those excellent ornithologists our knowledge of the hornbills has been steadily increasing, but up to the third quarter of the 19th century there was a great lack of precise information, and the publication of D. G. Elliot's "_Monograph of the Bucerotidae_," then supplied a great want. He divides the family into two sections, the _Bucerotinae_ and the _Bucorvinae_. The former group contains most of the species, which are divided into many genera. Of these, the most remarkable is _Rhinoplax_, which seems properly to contain but one species, the _Buceros vigil_, _B. scutatus_ or _B. geleatus_ of authors, commonly known as the helmet-hornbill, a native of Sumatra and Borneo. This is easily distinguished by having the front of its nearly vertical and slightly convex _epithema_ composed of a solid mass of horn[1] instead of a thin coating of the light and cellular structure found in the others. So dense and hard is this portion of the "helmet" that Chinese and Malay artists carve figures on its surface, or cut it transversely into plates, which from their agreeable colouring, bright yellow with a scarlet rim, are worn as brooches or other ornaments. This bird, which is larger than a raven, is also remarkable for its long graduated tail, having the middle two feathers nearly twice the length of the rest. Nothing is known of its habits. Its head was figured by George Edwards in the 18th century, but little else had been seen of it until 1801, when John Latham described the plumage from a specimen in the British Museum, and the first figure of the whole bird, from an example in the Museum at Calcutta, was published by General Hardwicke in 1823 (_Trans. Linn. Society_, xiv. pl. 23). Yet more than twenty years elapsed before French naturalists became acquainted with it.

In the _Bucorvinae_ we have only the genus _Bucorvus_, or _Bucorax_ as some call it, confined to Africa, and containing at least two and perhaps more species, distinguishable by their longer legs and shorter toes, the ground-hornbills of English writers, in contrast to the _Bucerotinae_ which are chiefly arboreal in their habits, and when not flying move by short leaps or hops, while the members of this group walk and run with facility. From the days of James Bruce at least there are few African travellers who have not met with and in their narratives more or less fully described one or other of these birds, whose large size and fearless habits render them conspicuous objects.

As a whole the hornbills, of which more than 50 species have been described, form a very natural and in some respects an isolated group, placed by Huxley among his _Coccygomorphae_. It has been suggested that they have some affinity with the hoopoes (_Upupidae_), and this view is now generally accepted. Their supposed alliance to the toucans (_Rhamphastidae_) rests only on the apparent similarity presented by the enormous beak, and is contradicted by important structural characters. In many of their habits, so far as these are known, all hornbills seem to be much alike, and though the modification in the form of the beak, and the presence or absence of the extraordinary excrescence,[2] whence their name is derived, causes great diversity of aspect among them, the possession of prominent eyelashes (not a common feature in birds) produces a uniformity of expression which makes it impossible to mistake any member of the family. Hornbills are social birds, keeping in companies, not to say flocks, and living chiefly on fruits and seeds; but the bigger species also capture and devour a large number of snakes, while the smaller are great destroyers of insects. The older writers say that they eat carrion, but further evidence to that effect is required before the statement can be believed. Almost every morsel of food that is picked up is tossed into the air, and then caught in the bill before it is swallowed. They breed in holes of trees, laying large white eggs, and when the hen begins to sit the cock plasters up the entrance with mud or clay, leaving only a small window through which she receives the food he brings her during her incarceration.

This remarkable habit, almost simultaneously noticed by Dr Mason in Burma, S. R. Tickell in India, and Livingstone in Africa, and since confirmed by other observers, especially A. R. Wallace[3] in the Malay Archipelago, has been connected by A. D. Bartlett (_Proc. Zool. Society_, 1869, p. 142) with a peculiarity as remarkable, which he was the first to notice. This is the fact that hornbills at intervals of time, whether periodical or irregular is not yet known, cast the epithelial layer of their gizzard, that layer being formed by a secretion derived from the glands of the proventriculus or some other upper part of the alimentary canal. The epithelium is ejected in the form of a sack or bag, the mouth of which is closely folded, and is filled with the fruit that the bird has been eating. The announcement of a circumstance so extraordinary naturally caused some hesitation in its acceptance, but the essential truth of Bartlett's observations was abundantly confirmed by Sir W. H. Flower and especially by Dr J. Murie. These castings form the hen bird's food during her confinement. (A. N.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Apparently correlated with this structure is the curious thickening of the "prosencephalic median septum" of the cranium as also of that which divides the "prosencephalic" from the "mesencephalic chamber," noticed by Sir R. Owen (_Cat. Osteol. Ser. Mus. Roy. Coll. Surg. England_, i. 287); while the solid horny mass is further strengthened by a backing of bony props, directed forwards and meeting its base at right angles. This last singular arrangement is not perceptible in the skull of any other species examined by the present writer.

[2] Buffon, as was his manner, enlarges on the cruel injustice done to these birds by Nature in encumbering them with this deformity, which he declares must hinder them from getting their food with ease. The only corroboration his perverted view receives is afforded by the observed fact that hornbills, in captivity at any rate, never have any fat about them.

[3] In _The Malay Archipelago_ (i. 213), Wallace describes a nestling hornbill (_B. bicornis_) which he obtained as "a most curious object, as large as a pigeon, but without a particle of plumage on any part of it. It was exceedingly plump and soft, and with a semi-transparent skin, so that it looked more like a bag of jelly, with head and feet stuck on, than like a real bird."

HORNBLENDE, an important member of the amphibole group of rock-forming minerals. The name is an old one of German origin, and was used for any dark-coloured prismatic crystals from which metals could not be extracted. It is now applied to the dark-coloured aluminous members of the monoclinic amphiboles, occupying in this group the same position that augite occupies in the pyroxene group. The monoclinic crystals are prismatic in habit with a six-sided cross-section; the angle between the prism-faces (M), parallel to which there are perfect cleavages, is 55 deg. 49'. The colour (green, brown or black) and the specific gravity (3.0-3.3) vary with the amount of iron present. The pleochroism is always strong, and the angle of optical extinction on the plane of symmetry (x in the figure) varies from 0 deg. to 37 deg. The chemical composition is expressed by mixtures in varying proportions of the molecules Ca(Mg, Fe)3(SiO3)4, (Mg, Fe)(Al, Fe)2SiO6 and NaAl(SiO3)2. Numerous varieties have been distinguished by special names: edenite, from Edenville in New York, is a pale-coloured aluminous amphibole containing little iron; pargasite, from Pargas near Abo in Finland, a green or bluish-green variety; common hornblende includes the greenish-black and black kinds containing more iron. The dark-coloured porphyritic crystals of basalts are known as basaltic hornblende.

Hornblende occurs as an essential constituent of many kinds of igneous rocks, such as hornblende-granite, syenite, diorite, hornblende-andesite, basalt, &c.; and in many crystalline schists, for example, amphibolite and hornblende-schist which are composed almost entirely of this mineral. Well-crystallized specimens are met with at many localities, for example: brilliant black crystals (syntagmatite) with augite and mica in the sanidine bombs of Monte Somma, Vesuvius; large crystals at Arendal in Norway, and at several places in the state of New York; isolated crystals from the basalts of Bohemia. (L. J. S.)

HORN-BOOK, a name originally applied to a sheet containing the letters of the alphabet, which formed a primer for the use of children. It was mounted on wood and protected with transparent horn. Sometimes the leaf was simply pasted against the slice of horn. The wooden frame had a handle, and it was usually hung at the child's girdle. The sheet, which in ancient times was of vellum and latterly of paper, contained first a large cross--the criss-crosse--from which the horn-book was called the Christ Cross Row, or criss-cross-row. The alphabet in large and small letters followed. The vowels then formed a line, and their combinations with the consonants were given in a tabular form. The usual exorcism--"in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost, Amen"--followed, then the Lord's Prayer, the whole concluding with the Roman numerals. The horn-book is mentioned in Shakespeare's _Love's Labour's Lost_, v. i, where the _ba_, the _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_, and the horn, are alluded to by Moth. It is also described by Ben Jonson--

"The letters may be read, through the horn, That make the story perfect."

HORNBY, SIR GEOFFREY THOMAS PHIPPS (1825-1895), British admiral of the fleet, son of Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby, the first cousin and brother-in-law of the 13th earl of Derby, by a daughter of Lieut.-General Burgoyne, commonly distinguished as "Saratoga" Burgoyne, was born on the 20th of February 1825. At the age of twelve he was sent to sea in the flagship of Sir Robert Stopford, with whom he saw the capture of Acre in November 1840. He afterwards served in the flagship of Rear-Admiral Josceline Percy at the Cape of Good Hope, was flag-lieutenant to his father in the Pacific, and came home as a commander. When the Derby ministry fell in December 1852 young Hornby was promoted to be captain. Early in 1853 he married, and as the Derby connexion put him out of favour with the Aberdeen ministry, and especially with Sir James Graham, the first lord of the Admiralty, he settled down in Sussex as manager of his father's property. He had no appointment in the navy till 1858, when he was sent out to China to take command of the "Tribune" frigate and convey a body of marines to Vancouver Island, where the dispute with the United States about the island of San Juan was threatening to become very bitter. As senior naval officer there Hornby's moderation, temper and tact did much to smooth over matters, and a temporary arrangement for joint occupation of the island was concluded. He afterwards commanded the "Neptune" in the Mediterranean under Sir William Fanshawe Martin, was flag-captain to Rear-Admiral Dacres in the Channel, was commodore of the squadron on the west coast of Africa, and, being promoted to rear-admiral in January 1869, commanded the training squadron for a couple of years. He then commanded the Channel Fleet, and was for two years a junior lord of the Admiralty. It was early in 1877 that he went out as commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, where his skill in manoeuvring the fleet, his power as a disciplinarian, and the tact and determination with which he conducted the foreign relations at the time of the Russian advance on Constantinople, won for him the K. C. B. He returned home in 1880 with the character of being perhaps the most able commander on the active list of the navy. His later appointments were to the Royal Naval College as president, and afterwards to Portsmouth as commander-in-chief. On hauling down his flag he was appointed G. C. B., and in May 1888 was promoted to be admiral of the fleet. From 1886 he was principal naval aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria, and in that capacity, and as an admiral of the fleet, was appointed on the staff of the German emperor during his visits to England in 1889 and 1890. He died, after a short illness, on the 3rd of March 1895. By his wife, who predeceased him, he left several children, daughters and sons, one of whom, a major in the artillery, won the Victoria Cross in South Africa in 1900.

His life was written by his daughter, Mrs Fred. Egerton, (1896).

HORNCASTLE, a market-town in the S. Lindsey or Horncastle parliamentary division of Lincolnshire, England, at the foot of a line of low hills called the Wolds, at the confluence of the Bain and Waring streams; the terminus of a branch line of the Great Northern railway, 130 m. N. from London. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4038. The church of St Mary is principally Decorated and Perpendicular, with some Early English remains and an embattled western tower. Queen Elizabeth's grammar school was founded in 1562. Other buildings are an exchange, a court-house and a dispensary founded in 1789. The prosperity of the town is chiefly dependent on agriculture and its well-known horse fairs. Brewing and malting are carried on, and there is some trade in coal and iron.

Remains have been found here which may indicate the existence of a Roman village. The manor of Horncastle (Hornecastre) belonged to Queen Edith in Saxon times and was royal demesne in 1086 and the head of a large soke. In the reign of Stephen it apparently belonged to Alice de Cundi, a partisan of the empress Maud, and passing to the crown on her death it was granted by Henry III. to Gerbald de Escald, from whom it descended to Ralph de Rhodes, who sold it to Walter Mauclerc, bishop of Carlisle in 1230. The see of Carlisle retained it till the reign of Edward VI. when it was granted to Edward, Lord Clinton, but was recovered in the following reign. In 1230 Henry III. directed the men of Horncastle to render a reasonable aid to the bishop, who obtained the right to try felons, hold a court leet and have free warren. An inquisition of 1275 shows that the bishop had then, besides the return of writs, the assize of bread and ale and waifs and strays in the soke. Horncastle was a centre of the Lincolnshire rebellion of 1536. Royalist troops occupied the town in 1643, and were pursued through its streets after the battle fought at Winceby. It was never a municipal or parliamentary borough, but during the middle ages it was frequently the residence of the bishops of Carlisle. Its prosperity has always depended largely on its fairs, the great horse fair described by George Borrow in _Romany Rye_ being granted to the bishop in 1230 for the octave of St Lawrence, together with the fair on the feast of St Barnabas. The three other fairs are apparently of later date.

See George Weir, _Historical and Descriptive Sketches of the Town and Soke of Horncastle in the County of Lincoln and of Several Places adjacent_ (London, 1820).

HORN DANCE, a medieval dance, still celebrated during the September "wakes" at Abbots Bromley, a village on the borders of Needwood Forest, Staffordshire. Six or seven men, each wearing a deer's skull with antlers, dance through the streets, pursued by a comrade who bestrides a mimic horse, and whips the dancers to keep them on the move. The horn-dance usually takes place on the Monday after Wakes Sunday, which is the Sunday next after the 4th of September. Originally the dance took place on a Sunday.

See _Strand Magazine_ for November 1896; also _Folk-lore_, vol. vii. (1896), p. 381.

HORNE, GEORGE (1730-1792), English divine, was born on the 1st of November 1730, at Otham near Maidstone, and received his education at Maidstone school and University College, Oxford. In 1749 he became a fellow of Magdalen, of which college he was elected president in 1768. As a preacher he early attained great popularity, and was, albeit unjustly, accused of Methodism. His reputation was helped by several clever if somewhat wrong-headed publications, including a satirical pamphlet entitled _The Theology and Philosophy of Cicero's Somnium Scipionis_ (1751), a defence of the Hutchinsonians in _A Fair, Candid and Impartial State of the Case between Sir Isaac Newton and Mr Hutchinson_ (1753), and critiques upon William Law (1758) and Benjamin Kennicott (1760). In 1771 he published his well-known _Commentary on the Psalms_. a series of expositions based on the Messianic idea. In 1776 he was chosen vice-chancellor of his university; in 1781 he was made dean of Canterbury, and in 1790 was raised to the see of Norwich. He died at Bath on the 17th of January 1792.

His collected _Works_ were published with a Memoir by William Jones in 1799.

HORNE, RICHARD HENRY, or HENGIST (1803-1884), English poet and critic, was born in London on New Year's Day 1803. He was intended for the army, and entered at Sandhurst, but receiving no commission, he left his country and joined the Mexican navy. He served in the war against Spain, and underwent many adventures. Returning to England, he became a journalist, and in 1836-1837 edited _The Monthly Repository_. In 1837 he published two tragedies, _Cosmo de Medici_ and _The Death of Marlowe_, and in 1841 a _History of Napoleon_. The book, however, by which he lives is his epic of _Orion_, which appeared in 1843. It was published originally at a farthing, was widely read, and passed through many editions. In the next year he set forth a volume of critical essays called _A New Spirit of the Age_, in which he was assisted by Elizabeth Barrett (Mrs Browning), with whom, from 1839 to her marriage in 1846, he conducted a voluminous correspondence. In 1852 he went to Australia in company with William Howitt, and did not return to England until 1869. He received a Civil List pension in 1874, and died at Margate on the 13th of March 1884. Horne possessed extraordinary versatility, but, except in the case of _Orion_, he never attained to a very high degree of distinction. That poem, indeed, has much of the quality of fine poetry; it is earnest, vivid and alive with spirit. But Horne early drove his talent too hard, and continued to write when he had little left to say. In criticism he had insight and quickness. He was one of the first to appreciate Keats and Tennyson, and he gave valuable encouragement to Mrs Browning when she was still Miss Elizabeth Barrett.

HORNE, THOMAS HARTWELL (1780-1862), English theologian and bibliographer, was born in London on the 20th of October 1780, and was educated at Christ's Hospital, with S. T. Coleridge as an elder contemporary. On leaving school he became clerk to a barrister, but showed a keen taste for authorship. As early as 1800 he published _A Brief View of the Necessity and Truth of the Christian Revelation_, which was followed by several minor works on very varied subjects. In 1814, having been appointed librarian of the Surrey Institution, he issued his _Introduction to the Study of Bibliography_. This was followed in 1818 by his long matured work, the _Introduction to the Critical Study of the Holy Scriptures_, which rapidly attained popularity, and secured for its author widespread fame and an honorary M.A. degree from Aberdeen. In 1819 he received ordination from William Howley, bishop of London, and after holding two smaller livings was appointed rector of the united parishes of St Edmund the King and Martyr, and St Nicolas Acons in London. On the breaking up of the Surrey Institution in 1823, he was appointed (1824) senior assistant librarian in the department of printed books in the British Museum. After the project of making a classified catalogue had been abandoned, he took part in the preparation of the alphabetical one, and his connexion with the museum continued until within a few months of his death on the 27th of January 1862.

Horne's works exceed forty in number. The _Introduction_, edited by John Ayre and S. P. Tregelles, reached a 12th edition in 1869; but, owing to subsequent advances in biblical scholarship, it fell into disuse.

HORNELL, a city of Steuben county, New York, U.S.A., on the Canisteo river, 90 m. S.E. of Buffalo. Pop. (1890) 10,996; (1900) 11,918, of whom 1230 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 13,617. Hornell is served by the Erie and the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railways; the latter connects at Wayland (20 m. distant by rail) with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad. In the city are St Ann's Academy, the St James Mercy Hospital, the Steuben Sanitarium, a public library, and a county court-house--terms of the county court being held here as well as in Bath (pop. in 1905, 3695), the county-seat, and in Corning. Hornell has extensive car shops of the Erie railroad, and among its manufactures are silk goods (silk gloves being a specially important product), sash, doors and blinds, leather, furniture, shoes, white-goods, wire-fences, foundry and machine shop products, electric motors, and brick and tile. The value of the factory product in 1905 was $3,162,677, an increase of 30.1% since 1900. The first settlement here was made in 1790, within the district of Erwin (then in Ontario county); after 1796 it was a part of Canisteo township, and the settlement itself was known as Upper Canisteo until 1820, when a new township was formed and named Hornellsville in honour of Judge George Hornell (d. 1813). The village of Hornellsville was incorporated in 1852, and in 1888 was chartered as a city; and by act of the state legislature the name was changed to Hornell in 1906.

See G. H. McMaster, _History of the Settlement of Steuben County_ (Bath, New York, 1849).

HORNEMANN, FREDERICK (fl. 1796-1800), German traveller in Africa, was born at Hildesheim. He was a young man when, early in 1796, he offered his services to the African Association of London as an explorer in Africa. By the association he was sent to Gottingen University to study Arabic and otherwise prepare for an expedition into the unknown regions of North Africa from the east. In September 1797 he arrived in Egypt, where he continued his studies. On the invasion of the country by the French he was confined in the citadel of Cairo, to preserve him from the fanaticism of the populace. Liberated by the French, he received the patronage of Bonaparte. On the 5th of September 1798 he joined a caravan returning to the Maghrib from Mecca, attaching himself to a party of Fezzan merchants who accompanied the pilgrims. As an avowed Christian would not have been permitted to join the caravan Hornemann assumed the character of a young mameluke trading to Fezzan. He then spoke, but indifferently, both Arabic and Turkish, and he was accompanied as servant and interpreter by Joseph Freudenburg, a German convert to Islam, who had thrice made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Travelling by way of the oases of Siwa and Aujila, a "black rocky desert" was traversed to Temissa in Fezzan. Murzuk was reached on the 17th of November 1798. Here Hornemann lived till June 1799, going thence to the city of Tripoli, whence in August of the same year he despatched his journals to London. He then returned to Murzuk. Nothing further is known with certainty concerning him or his companion. In Murzuk Hornemann had collected a great deal of trustworthy information concerning the peoples and countries of the western Sahara and central Sudan, and when he left Tripoli it was his intention to go direct to the Hausa country, which region he was the first European definitely to locate. "If I do not perish in my undertaking," he wrote in his journal, "I hope in five years I shall be able to make the Society better acquainted with the people of whom I have given this short description." The British consul at Tripoli heard from a source believed to be trustworthy that about June 1803 Jusef (Hornemann's Mahommedan name) was at Casna, i.e. Katsena, in Northern Nigeria, "in good health and highly respected as a marabout." A report reached Murzuk in 1819 that the traveller had gone to "Noofy" (Nupe), and had died there. Hornemann was the first European in modern times to traverse the north-eastern Sahara, and up to 1910 no other explorer had followed his route across the Jebel-es-Suda from Aujila to Temissa.

The original text of Hornemann's journal, which was written in German, was printed at Weimar in 1801; an English translation, _Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk_, &c., with maps and dissertations by Major James Rennell, appeared in London in 1802. A French translation of the English work, made by order of the First Consul, and augmented with notes and a memoir on the Egyptian oases by L. Langles, was published in Paris in the following year. The French version is the most valuable of the three. Consult also the _Proceedings of the African Association_ (1810), and the Geog. Jnl. Nov. 1906.

HORNER, FRANCIS (1778-1817), British economist, was born at Edinburgh on the 12th of August 1778. After passing through the usual courses at the high school and university of his native city, he devoted five years, the first two in England, to comprehensive but desultory study, and in 1800 was called to the Scottish bar. Desirous, however, of a wider sphere, Horner removed to London in 1802, and occupied the interval that elapsed before his admission to the English bar in 1807 with researches in law, philosophy and political economy. In February 1806 he became one of the commissioners for adjusting the claims against the nawab of Arcot, and in November entered parliament as member for St Ives. Next year he sat. for Wendover, and in 1812 for St Mawes, in the patronage of the marquis of Buckingham. In 1811, when Lord Grenville was organizing a prospective ministry, Horner had the offer, which he refused, of a treasury secretaryship. He had resolved not to accept office till he could afford to live out of office; and his professional income, on which he depended, was at no time proportionate to his abilities. His labours at last began to tell upon a constitution never robust, and in October 1816 his physicians ordered him to Italy, where, however, he sank under his malady. He died at Pisa, on the 8th of February 1817. He was buried at Leghorn, and a marble statue by Chantrey was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

Without the advantages of rank, or wealth, or even of genius, Francis Horner rose to a high position of public influence and private esteem. His special field was political economy. Master of that subject, and exercising a sort of moral as well as intellectual influence over the House of Commons he, by his nervous and earnest rather than eloquent style of speaking, could fix its attention for hours on such dry topics as finance, and coinage, and currency. As chairman of the parliamentary committee for investigating the depreciation of bank-notes, for which he moved in 1810, he extended and confirmed his fame as a political economist by his share in the famous _Bullion Report_. It was chiefly through his efforts that the paper-issue of the English banks was checked, and gold and silver reinstated in their true position as circulating media; and his views on free trade and commerce have been generally accepted at their really high value. Horner was one of the promoters of the _Edinburgh Review_ in 1802. His articles in the early numbers of that publication, chiefly on political economy, form his only literary legacy.

See _Memoirs and Correspondence of Francis Horner, M.P._, published by his brother (see below) in 1843. Also the _Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly Reviews_ for the same year; and _Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. i.

HORNER, LEONARD (1785-1864), Scottish geologist, brother of Francis Horner (above), was born in Edinburgh on the 17th of January 1785. His father, John Horner, was a linen merchant in Edinburgh, and Leonard, the third and youngest son, entered the university of Edinburgh in 1799. There in the course of the next four years he studied chemistry and mineralogy, and gained a love of geology from Playfair's _Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory_. At the age of nineteen he became a partner in a branch of his father's business, and went to London. In 1808 he joined the newly formed Geological Society and two years later was elected one of the secretaries. Throughout his long life he was ardently devoted to the welfare of the society; he was elected president in 1846 and again in 1860. In 1811 he read his first paper "On the Mineralogy of the Malvern Hills" (_Trans. Geol. Soc._ vol. i.) and subsequently communicated other papers on the "Brine-springs at Droitwich," and the "Geology of the S.W. part of Somersetshire." He was elected F.R.S. in 1813. In 1815 he returned to Edinburgh to take personal superintendence of his business, and while there (1821) he was instrumental in founding the Edinburgh School of Arts for the instruction of mechanics, and he was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Academy. In 1827 he was invited to London to become warden of the London University, an office which he held for four years; he then resided at Bonn for two years and pursued the study of minerals and rocks, communicating to the Geological Society on his return a paper on the "Geology of the Environs of Bonn," and another "On the Quantity of Solid Matter suspended in the Water of the Rhine." In 1833 he was appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the employment of children in the factories of Great Britain, and he was subsequently selected as one of the inspectors. In later years he devoted much attention to the geological history of the alluvial lands of Egypt; and in 1843 he published his _Life_ of his brother Francis. He died in London on the 5th of March 1864.

See _Memoir of Leonard Horner_, by Katherine M. Lyell (1890) (privately printed).

HORNES, MORITZ (1815-1868), Austrian palaeontologist, was born in Vienna on the 14th of July 1815. He was educated in the university and graduated Ph.D. He then became assistant in the Vienna mineralogical museum. He was distinguished for his researches on the Tertiary mollusca of the Vienna Basin, and on the Triassic mollusca of Alpine regions. Most of his memoirs were published in the _Jahrbuch der K. K. geol. Reichsanstalt_. In 1864 he introduced the term Neogene to include Miocene and Pliocene, as these formations are not always to be clearly separated: the fauna of the lower division being subtropical and gradually giving place in the upper division to Mediterranean forms. He died in Vienna on the 4th of November 1868. His son Dr Rudolf Hornes (b. 1850), professor of geology and palaeontology in the university of Graz, has also carried on researches among the Tertiary mollusca, and is author of _Elemente der Palaeontologie_ (1884).

HORNFELS (a German word meaning hornstone), the group designation for a series of rocks which have been baked and indurated by the heat of intrusive granitic masses and have been rendered massive, hard, splintery, and in some cases exceedingly tough and durable. Most hornfelses are fine-grained, and while the original rocks (such as sandstone, shale and slate, limestone and diabase) may have been more or less fissile owing to the presence of bedding or cleavage planes, this structure is effaced or rendered inoperative in the hornfels. Though they may show banding, due to bedding, &c., they break across this as readily as along it; in fact they tend to separate into cubical fragments rather than into thin plates. The commonest hornfelses (the "biotite hornfelses") are dark-brown to black with a somewhat velvety lustre owing to the abundance of small crystals of shining black mica. The "lime hornfelses" are often white, yellow, pale-green, brown and other colours. Green and dark-green are the prevalent tints of the hornfelses produced by the alteration of igneous rocks. Although for the most part the constituent grains are too small to be determined by the unaided eye, there are often larger crystals of garnet or andalusite scattered through the fine matrix, and these may become very prominent on the weathered faces of the rock.

The structure of the hornfelses is very characteristic. Very rarely do any of the minerals show crystalline form, but the small grains fit closely together like the fragments of a mosaic; they are usually of nearly equal dimensions and from the resemblance to rough pavement work this has been called _pflaster_ structure or pavement structure. Each mineral may also enclose particles of the others; in the quartz, for example, small crystals of graphite, biotite, iron oxides, sillimanite or felspar may appear in great numbers. Often the whole of the grains are rendered semi-opaque in this way. The minutest crystals may show traces of crystalline outlines; undoubtedly they are of new formation and have originated _in situ_. This leads us to believe that the whole rock has been recrystallized at a high temperature and in the solid state, so that there was little freedom for the mineral molecules to build up well-individualized crystals. The regeneration of the rock has been sufficient to efface most of the original structures and to replace the former minerals more or less completely by new ones. But crystallization has been hampered by the solid condition of the mass and the new minerals are formless and have been unable to reject impurities, but have grown around them.

Slates, shales and clays yield biotite hornfelses in which the most conspicuous mineral is black mica, in small scales which under the microscope are transparent and have a dark reddish-brown colour and strong dichroism. There is also quartz, and often a considerable amount of felspar, while graphite, tourmaline and iron oxides frequently occur in lesser quantity. In these biotite hornfelses the minerals, which consist of aluminium silicates, are commonly found; they are usually andalusite and sillimanite, but kyanite appears also in hornfelses, especially in those which have a schistose character. The andalusite may be pink and is then often pleochroic in thin sections, or it may be white with the cross-shaped dark enclosures of the matrix which are characteristic of chiastolite. Sillimanite usually forms exceedingly minute needles embedded in quartz. In the rocks of this group cordierite also occurs, not rarely, and may have the outlines of imperfect hexagonal prisms which are divided up into six sectors when seen in polarized light. In biotite hornfelses a faint striping may indicate the original bedding of the unaltered rock and corresponds to small changes in the nature of the sediment deposited. More commonly there is a distinct spotting, visible on the surfaces of the hand specimens. The spots are round or elliptical, and may be paler or darker than the rest of the rock. In some cases they are rich in graphite or carbonaceous matters; in others they are full of brown mica; some spots consist of rather coarser grains of quartz than occur in the matrix. The frequency with which this feature reappears in the less altered slates and hornfelses is rather remarkable, especially as it seems certain that the spots are not always of the same nature or origin. "Tourmaline hornfelses" are found sometimes near the margins of tourmaline granites; they are black with small needles of schorl which under the microscope are dark brown and richly pleochroic. As the tourmaline contains boron there must have been some permeation of vapours from the granite into the sediments. Rocks of this group are often seen in the Cornish tin-mining districts, especially near the lodes.

A second great group of hornfelses are the calc-silicate-hornfelses which arise from the thermal alteration of impure limestones. The purer beds recrystallize as marbles, but where there has been originally an admixture of sand or clay lime-bearing silicates are formed, such as diopside, epidote, garnet, sphene, vesuvianite, scapolite; with these phlogopite, various felspars, pyrites, quartz and actinolite often occur. These rocks are fine-grained, and though often banded are tough and much harder than the original limestones. They are excessively variable in their mineralogical composition, and very often alternate in thin seams with biotite hornfels and indurated quartzites. When perfused with boric and fluoric vapours from the granite they may contain much axinite, fluorite and datolite, but the aluminous silicates (andalusite, &c.) are absent from these rocks.

From diabases, basalts, andesites and other igneous rocks a third type of hornfels is produced. They consist essentially of felspar with hornblende (generally of brown colour) and pale pyroxene. Sphene, biotite and iron oxides are the other common constituents, but these rocks show much variety of composition and structure. Where the original mass was decomposed and contained calcite, zeolites, chlorite and other secondary minerals either in veins or in cavities, there are usually rounded areas or irregular streaks containing a suite of new minerals, which may resemble those of the calc silicate hornfelses above described. The original porphyritic, fluidal, vesicular or fragmental structures of the igneous rock are clearly visible in the less advanced stages of hornfelsing, but become less evident as the alteration progresses.

In some districts hornfelsed rocks occur which have acquired a schistose structure through shearing, and these form transitions to schists and gneisses which contain the same minerals as the hornfelses, but have a schistose instead of a hornfels structure. Among these may be mentioned cordierite and sillimanite gneisses, andalusite and kyanite mica schists, and those schistose calc silicate rocks which are known as cipolins. That these are sediments which have undergone thermal alteration is generally admitted, but the exact conditions under which they were formed is not always clear. The essential features of hornfelsing are ascribed to the action of heat, pressure and permeating vapours, regenerating a rock mass without the production of fusion (at least on a large scale). It has been argued, however, that often there is extensive chemical change owing to the introduction of matter from the granite into the rocks surrounding it. The formation of new felspar in the hornfelses is pointed out as evidence of this. While this "felspathization" may have occurred in a few localities, it seems conspicuously absent from others. Most authorities at the present time regard the changes as being purely of a physical and not of a chemical nature. (J. S. F.)

HORNING, LETTERS OF, a term in Scots law. Originally in Scotland imprisonment for debt was enforceable only in certain cases, but a custom gradually grew up of taking the debtor's oath to pay. If the debtor broke his oath, he became liable to the discipline of the Church. The civil power, further, stepped in to aid the ecclesiastical, and denounced him as a rebel, imprisoning his person and confiscating his goods. The method declaring a person a rebel was by giving three blasts on a horn and publicly proclaiming the fact; hence the expression, "put to the horn." The subsequent process, the warrant directing a messenger-at-arms to charge the debtor to pay or perform in terms of the letters, was called "letters of horning." This system of execution was simplified by an act of 1837 (Personal Diligence Act), and execution is now usually by diligence (see EXECUTION).

HORNPIPE, originally the name of an instrument no longer in existence, and now the name of an English national dance. The sailors' hornpipe, although the most common, is by no means the only form of the dance, for there is a pretty tune known as the "College Hornpipe," and other specimens of a similar kind might be cited. The composition of hornpipes flourished chiefly in the 18th century, and even Handel did not disdain to use the characteristic rhythm. The hornpipe may be written in 3/2 or in common time, and is always of a lively nature.

HORNSEY, a municipal borough in the Hornsey parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, suburban to London, 6 m. N. of St Paul's Cathedral, on the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1891) 44,523; (1901) 72,056. It is chiefly occupied by small residences of the working classes. The manor, called in the 13th century _Haringee_ (a name which survives as Harringay), belonged from an early date to the see of London, the bishops having a seat here. In 1387 the duke of Gloucester, uncle of Richard II., assembled in Hornsey Park the forces by the display of which he compelled the king to dismiss his minister de la Pole, earl of Suffolk; and in 1483 the park was the scene of the ceremonious reception of Edward V., under the charge of Richard, duke of Gloucester, by Edmund Shaw, lord mayor of London. The parish church of St Mary, Hornsey, retains its Perpendicular tower (c. 1500) and a number of interesting monuments. Finsbury Park, of 120 acres, and other smaller public grounds, are within the borough. Hornsey was incorporated in 1903 under a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors. Area, 2875 acres.

HOROWITZ, ISAIAH (c. 1555-c. 1630), Jewish rabbi and mystic, was born at Prague, and died at Safed, then the home of Jewish Kabbala. His largest work is called _Shelah_ (abbreviated from the initials of the full title _Shene luhoth ha-berit_, "Two Tables of the Covenant"). This is a compilation of ritual, ethics and mysticism, and had a profound influence on Jewish life. It has been often reprinted, especially in an abbreviated form.

For an account of the Jewish mystics at Safed see S. Schecter, _Studies in Judaism_, series ii. (1908).

HORREUM, the Latin word for a magazine or storehouse for the storage of grain and other produce of the earth, and occasionally for that of agricultural implements. The storehouses of Rome were of the most extensive character, there being no fewer than 290 public horrea at the time of Constantine. They were used for the storage of food and merchandize of all kinds, being part of the great Roman system of providing food for the population, and they were supplied constantly with corn and other provisions from Africa, Spain and elsewhere.

HORROCKS, JEREMIAH (1619-1641), English astronomer, was born in 1619 at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool. His family was poor, and the register of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, testifies to his entry as sizar on the 18th of May 1632. Isolated in his scientific tastes, and painfully straitened in means, he pursued amid innumerable difficulties his purpose of self-education. His university career lasted three years, and on its termination he became a tutor at Toxteth, devoting to astronomical observations his brief intervals of leisure. In 1636 he met with a congenial spirit in William Crabtree, a draper of Broughton, near Manchester; and encouraged by his advice he exchanged the guidance of Philipp von Lansberg, a pretentious but inaccurate Belgian astronomer, for that of Kepler. He now set himself to the revision of the Rudolphine Tables (published by Kepler in 1627), and in the progress of his task became convinced that a transit of Venus overlooked by Kepler would nevertheless occur on the 24th of November (O.S.) 1639. He was at this time curate of Hoole, near Preston, having recently taken orders in the Church of England, although, according to the received accounts, he had not attained the canonical age. The 24th of November falling on a Sunday, his clerical duties threatened fatally to clash with his astronomical observations; he was, however, released just in time to witness the punctual verification of his forecast, and carefully noted the progress of the phenomenon during half an hour before sunset (3.15 to 3.45). This transit of Venus is remarkable as the first ever observed, that of 1631 predicted by Kepler having been invisible in western Europe. Notwithstanding the rude character of the apparatus at his disposal, Horrocks was enabled by his observation of it to introduce some important corrections into the elements of the planet's orbit, and to reduce to its exact value the received estimate of its apparent diameter.

After a year spent at Hoole, he returned to Toxteth, and there, on the eve of a long-promised visit to his friend Crabtree, he died, on the 3rd of January 1641, when only in his twenty-second year. To the inventive activity of the discoverer he had already united the patient skill of the observer and the practical sagacity of the experimentalist. Before he was twenty he had afforded a specimen of his powers by an important contribution to the lunar theory. He first brought the revolutions of our satellite within the domain of Kepler's laws, pointing out that her apparent irregularities could be completely accounted for by supposing her to move in an ellipse with a variable eccentricity and directly rotatory major axis, of which the earth occupied one focus. These precise conditions were afterwards demonstrated by Newton to follow necessarily from the law of gravitation.

In his speculations as to the physical cause of the celestial motions, his mind, though not wholly emancipated from the tyranny of gratuitous assumptions, was working steadily towards the light. He clearly perceived the significant analogy between terrestrial gravity and the force exerted in the solar system, and by the ingenious device of a circular pendulum illustrated the composite character of the planetary movements. He also reduced the solar parallax to 14" (less than a quarter of Kepler's estimate), corrected the sun's semi-diameter to 15' 45", recommended decimal notation, and was the first to make tidal observations.

Only a remnant of the papers left by Horrocks was preserved by the care of William Crabtree. After his death (which occurred soon after that of his friend) these were purchased by Dr Worthington, of Cambridge; and from his hands the treatise _Venus in sole visa_ passed into those of Hevelius, and was published by him in 1662 with his own observations on a transit of Mercury. The remaining fragments were, under the directions of the Royal Society, reduced by Dr Wallis to a compact form, with the heading _Astronomia Kepleriana defensa et promota_, and published with numerous extracts from the letters of Horrocks to Crabtree, and a sketch of the author's life, in a volume entitled _Jeremiae Horroccii opera posthuma_ (London, 1672). A memoir of his life by the Rev. Arundell Blount Whatton, prefixed to a translation of the _Venus in sole visa_, appeared at London in 1859.

For additional particulars, see J. E. Bailey's _Palatine Note-Book_, ii. 253, iii. 17; Bailey's "Writings of Horrocks and Crabtree" (from _Notes and Queries_, Dec. 2, 1882); _Notes and Queries_, 3rd series, vol. v., 5th series, vols. ii., iv.; Martin's _Biographia philosophica_, p. 271 (1764); R. Brickel, _Transits of Venus, 1639-1874_ (Preston, 1874); _Astronomical Register_, xii. 293; Hevelii, _Mercurius in sole visus_, pp. 116-140; S. Rigaud's _Correspondence of Scientific Men_; Th. Birch, _History of the Royal Society_, i. 386, 395, 470; Sir E. Sherburne's _Sphere of M. Manilius_, p. 92 (1675); Sir J. A. Picton's _Memorials of Liverpool_, ii. 561; M. Gregson's _Fragments relative to the Duchy of Lancaster_, p. 166 (1817); _Liverpool Repository_, i. 570 (1826); _Phil. Trans. Abridged_, ii. 12 (1809); C. Hutton's _Phil. and Math. Dictionary_ (1815); _Penny Cyclopaedia_ (De Morgan); _Nature_, viii. 117, 137; J. B. J. Delambre, _Hist. de l'astronomie moderne_, ii. 495; _Hist. de l'astronomie au XVIII^e siecle_, pp. 28, 61, 74; W. Whewell, _Hist. of the Inductive Sciences_, i. 331; R. Grant, _Hist. of Physical Astronomy_, pp. 420, 545; J. Madler, _Geschichte der Himmelskunde_, i. 275; M. Marie, _Hist. des Sciences_, iv. 168, vi. 90; J. C. Houzeau, _Bibl. Astr._ ii. 167. (A. M. C.)

HORROCKS, JOHN (1768-1804), British cotton manufacturer, was born at Edgeworth, near Bolton, in 1768. His father was the owner of a small quarry, and John Horrocks spent his early days in dressing and polishing millstones. The Lancashire cotton industry was then in its infancy, but Horrocks was greatly impressed with its future possibilities, and he managed to obtain a few spinning-frames which he erected in a corner of his father's offices. For a time he combined cotton-spinning on a very small scale with stone-working, but finally devoted himself entirely to cotton-spinning, working the frames with his own hands, and travelling through the Lancashire manufacturing districts to sell the yarn. His goods obtained a reputation for quality, and his customers increased so rapidly that in 1791 he removed to Preston, where he began to manufacture cotton shirtings and long-cloths in addition to spinning the cotton yarn. By taking full advantage of the machinery invented for manufacturing textiles, and by rigidly maintaining the quality of his goods, Horrocks rapidly developed his business, and with the aid of the capital of a local banker, whom he took into partnership, erected within a year of his arrival in Preston his first large mill, securing shortly afterwards from the East India Company a monopoly of the manufacture of cottons and muslins for the Indian market. The demand for Horrocks's goods continued to increase, and to cope with the additional work he took first an elder brother and in 1801 a Mr Whitehead and a Mr Miller into partnership, the title of the firm being altered to Horrockses, Miller & Co. In 1802 he entered parliament as tory member for Preston. He died in London in 1804 of brain-fever resulting from over-work.

HORSE (a word common to Teutonic languages in such forms as _hors_, _hros_, _ros_; cf. the Ger. _ross_), a name properly restricted to the domesticated horse (_Equus caballus_) and its wild or half-wild representatives, but in a zoological sense used as a general term for all the members of the family Equidae.

SPECIES

The distinctive characteristics of the family, and its position in the zoological system, are given in the articles EQUIDAE and PERISSODACTYLA. Here attention is concentrated on the leading features of the horse as contrasted with the other members of the same family, and subsequently on the anatomical structure of the former animal. The evolution of the existing representatives of the family from primitive extinct animals is summarized in the article EQUIDAE.

_Horse_, _Wild Horse_, _Pony_.--The horse (_Equus caballus_) is distinguished from the others by the long hairs of the tail being more abundant and growing quite or nearly from the base as well as the end and sides, and also by possessing a small bare callosity on the inner side of the hind leg, just below the "hock" or heel joint, in addition to the one on the inner side of the fore-arm above the carpus or "knee," common to all the genus. The mane is also longer and more flowing, and the ears are shorter, the limbs longer, and the head smaller.

Though existing horses are usually not marked in any definite manner, or only irregularly dappled, or spotted with light surrounded by a darker ring, many examples are met with showing a dark median dorsal streak like that found in all the other members of the genus, and even with dark stripes on the shoulders and legs.

Two distinct types of horse, in many instances largely modified by interbreeding, appear to exist. (1) The northern, or dun type, represented by the dun ponies of Norway (_Equus caballus typicus_), the closely allied Celtic pony (_E. c. celticus_) of Iceland, the Hebrides, &c., and the wild pony of Mongolia (_E. c. przewalskii_), with which the now extinct tarpan of the Russian steppes appears to have been identical. The prevalent colour is yellow-dun, with dark brown or black mane, tail and legs; in the wild forms the muzzle is often white and the root of the tail short-haired; while the head is relatively large and heavy. No depression exists in the skull in front of the eye. Most of the ordinary horses of N.W. Europe are descended from the dun type, with more or less admixture of Barb blood. (2) The southern, or Barb type, represented by Barbs, Arabs, thoroughbreds, &c. (_E. c. asiaticus_ or _libycus_), in which the typical colour is bay with black "points" and often a white star on the forehead, and the mane and tail are long and full. The skull generally shows a slight depression in front of the socket of the eye, which, although now serving as the attachment for the muscle running to the nostril, may represent the face-gland of the extinct _Hipparion_. Many of the dark-coloured horses of Europe have Barb or Arab blood in their veins, this being markedly the case with the Old English black or Shire horse, the skull of which shows a distinct depression in front of the eye-socket. This depression is still more marked in the extinct Indian _E. sivalensis_, which may have been the ancestral form.

In Europe wild horses were abundant in the prehistoric Neolithic or polished-stone period. Judging from the quantity of their remains found associated with those of the men of that time, the chase of these animals must have been among man's chief occupations, and horses must have furnished him with one of his most important food-supplies. The characters of the bones preserved, and certain rude but graphic representations carved on bones or reindeers' antlers, enable us to know that they were rather small in size and heavy in build, with large heads and rough shaggy manes and tails, much like, in fact, the recently extinct tarpans or wild horses of the steppes of the south of Russia, and the still-surviving Mongolian wild pony or "Przewalski's horse." These horses were domesticated by the inhabitants of Europe before the dawn of history. Horses are now diffused by the agency of man throughout almost the whole of the inhabited parts of the globe, and the great modifications they have undergone in consequence of domestication, crossing, and selective breeding are well exemplified by comparing such extreme forms as the Shetland pony, dwarfed by uncongenial climate, the thoroughbred racer, and the London dray-horse. In Australia, as in America, horses imported by European settlers have escaped into unreclaimed lands and multiplied to a prodigious extent, roaming in vast herds over the wide and uncultivated plains.

_Ass_, _Zebra_, _Quagga_.--The next group is formed by the Asiatic wild asses, or kiangs and onagers, as they might well be called, in order to distinguish them from the wild asses of Africa. These asses have moderate ears, the tail rather long, and the back-stripe dark brown and running from head to tail. On the neck and withers this stripe is formed by the mane. There are two species of Asiatic wild ass, with several varieties. The first and largest has two races, the chigetai (_Equus hemionus_) of Mongolia, and the kiang (_E. h. kiang_) of Tibet, which is a redder animal. The onager (_E. onager_), of which there are several races, is smaller, with a broader dorsal stripe, bordered with white; the colour varying from sandy to greyish. This species ranges from Baluchistan and N.W. India to Persia, Syria and Arabia. These asses inhabit desert plains or open table-land; the kiang dwelling at elevations of about 14,000 ft. They are generally found in herds of from twenty to forty, although occasionally in larger numbers. All are fleet, and traverse rough ground with speed. On the lowlands they feed on dry grasses, and in Tibet on small woody plants. In India and Persia they are difficult to approach, although this is not the case in Tibet. Their sandy or chestnut colouring assimilates them to the horse, and separates them widely from the African wild asses, which are grey. The kiang has also larger and more horse-like hoofs, and the tail is haired higher up, thus approximating to _Equus caballus przewalskii_.

Among the striped species, or zebras and quaggas of Africa, the large Grevy's zebra (_Equus grevyi_) of Somaliland and Abyssinia stands apart from the rest by the number and narrowness of its stripes, which have an altogether peculiar arrangement on the hind-quarters, the small size of the callosities on the fore-legs, the mane extending on to the withers and enormous rounded ears, thickly haired internally. The large size of the ears and the narrow stripes are in some degree at any rate adaptations to a life on scrub-clad plains.

Next comes the closely allied species with small pointed ears, of which the true quagga (_E. quagga_) of South Africa is now extinct. This animal has the dark stripes limited to the head, neck and shoulders, upon a brown ground. In the typical form, now also extinct, of the bonte-quagga, dauw, or Burchell's zebra (_E. burchelli_), the ground-colour is white, and the stripes cover the body and upper part of the limbs. This was the commonest species in the great plains of South Africa, where it roamed in large herds, often in company with the quagga and numerous antelopes. The species ranges from the Orange river to the confines of Abyssinia, but its more northern representatives show a gradual increase in the striping of the legs, culminating in the north-east African _E. burchelli granti_, in which the stripes extend to the hoofs. The markings, too, are alternately black and white, in place of brown and creamy, with intermediate "shadow stripes," as in the southern races.

Lastly, there is the true or mountain zebra (_E. zebra_), typically from the mountain ranges of Cape Colony, where it is now specially protected, but represented by _E. zebra penricei_ in south-west Africa. In its relatively long ears and general build it approaches the African wild asses, from which it chiefly differs by the striping (which is markedly different from that of the quagga-group) and the reversal of the direction of the hairs along the spine.

The African wild ass (_E. asinus_) is the parent of the domesticated breed, and is a long-eared grey animal, with no forelock, and either a shoulder-stripe or dark barrings on the legs. There are two races, of which the Nubian _E. a. africanus_ is the smaller, and has a continuous dorsal stripe and a shoulder-stripe but no bars on the legs. The Somali race (_E. a somaliensis_), on the other hand, is a larger and greyer animal, with an interrupted dorsal and no shoulder-stripe, but distinct leg-barrings.

_Hybrids._--There are thus eight modifications of the horse-type at present existing, sufficiently distinct to be reckoned as species by most zoologists, and easily recognizable by their external characters. They are, however, all so closely allied that each will, at least in a state of domestication or captivity, breed with any of the others. Cases of fertile union are recorded between the horse and the quagga, the horse and the bonte-quagga or Burchell's zebra, the horse and the onager and kiang or Asiatic wild asses, the common ass and the zebra, the ass and bonte-quagga, the ass and the onager, the onager and the zebra, and the onager and the bonte-quagga. The two species which are farthest removed in structure, the horse and the ass, produce, as is well known, hybrids or mules, which in certain qualities useful to man excel both their progenitors, and in some countries and for certain kinds of work are in greater requisition than either. Although occasional more or less doubtful instances have been recorded of female mules breeding with the males of one or other of the pure species, it is more than doubtful if any case has occurred of their breeding _inter se_, although the opportunities of doing so must have been great, as mules have been reared in immense numbers for at least several thousands of years. We may therefore consider it settled that the different species of the group are now in that degree of physiological differentiation which enables them to produce offspring with each other, but does not permit of the progeny continuing the race, at all events unless reinforced by the aid of one of the pure forms.

The several members of the group show mental differences quite as striking as those exhibited by their external form, and more than perhaps might be expected from the similarity of their brains. The patience of the ass, the high spirit of the horse, the obstinacy of the mule, have long been proverbial. It is very remarkable that, out of so many species, two only should have shown any aptitude for domestication, and that these should have been from time immemorial the universal and most useful companions and servants of man, while all the others remain in their native freedom to this day. It is, however, still a question whether this really arises from a different mental constitution causing a natural capacity for entering into relations with man, or whether it may not be owing to their having been brought gradually into this condition by long-continued and persevering efforts when the need of their services was felt. It is possible that one reason why most of the attempts to add new species to the list of our domestic animals in modern times have ended in failure is that it does not answer to do so in cases in which existing species supply all the principal purposes to which the new ones might be put. It can hardly be expected that zebras and bonte-quaggas fresh from their native mountains and plains can be brought into competition as beasts of burden and draught with horses and asses, whose useful qualities have been augmented by the training of thousands of generations of progenitors.

Not infrequently instances occur of domestic horses being produced with a small additional toe with complete hoof, usually on the inside of the principal toe, and, though far more rarely, three or more toes may be present. These malformations are often cited as instances of reversion to the condition of some of the earlier forms of equine animals previously mentioned. In some instances, however, the feet of such polydactyle horses bear little resemblance to those of the extinct _Hipparion_ or _Anchitherium_, but look rather as if due to that tendency to reduplication of parts which occurs so frequently as a monstrous condition, especially among domesticated animals, and which, whatever its origin, certainly cannot in many instances, as the cases of entire limbs superadded, or of six digits in man, be attributed to reversion.

ANATOMY

The anatomical structure of the horse has been described in detail in several works mentioned in the bibliography at the end of this section, though these have generally been written from the point of view of the veterinarian rather than of the comparative anatomist. The limits of the present article will only admit of the most salient points being indicated, particularly those in which the horse differs from other Ungulata. Unless otherwise specified, it must be understood that all that is stated here, although mostly derived from observation upon the horse, applies equally well to the other existing members of the group.

_Skeleton._--The skull as a whole is greatly elongated, chiefly in consequence of the immense size of the face as compared with the hinder or true cranial portion. The basal line of the cranium from the lower border of the foramen magnum to the incisor border of the palate is nearly straight. The orbit, of nearly circular form, though small in proportion to the size of the whole skull, is distinctly marked, being completely surrounded by a strong ring of bone with prominent edges. Behind it, and freely communicating with it beneath the osseous bridge (the post-orbital process of the frontal) forming the boundary between them, is the small temporal fossa occupying the whole of the side of the cranium proper, and in front is the great flattened expanse of the "cheek," formed chiefly by the maxilla, giving support to the long row of cheek-teeth, and having a prominent ridge running forward from below the orbit for the attachment of the masseter muscle. The lachrymal occupies a considerable space on the flat surface of the cheek in front of the orbit, and below it the jugal does the same. The latter sends a horizontal or slightly ascending process backwards below the orbit to join the under surface of the zygomatic process of the squamosal, which is remarkably large, and instead of ending as usual behind the orbit, runs forwards to join the greatly developed post-orbital process of the frontal, and even forms part of the posterior and inferior boundary of the orbit, an arrangement not met with in other mammals. The closure of the orbit behind distinguishes the skull of the horse from that of its allies the rhinoceros and tapir, and also from all of the perissodactyles of the Eocene period. In front of the brain cavity, the great tubular nasal cavities are provided with well-developed turbinal bones, and are roofed over by large nasals, broad behind, and ending in front in a narrow decurved point. The opening of the anterior nostrils is prolonged backwards on each side of the face between the nasals and the elongated slender premaxillae. The latter expand in front, and are curved downwards to form the semicircular alveolar border which supports the large incisor teeth. The palate is narrow in the interval between the incisor and molar teeth, in which are situated the large anterior palatine foramina. Between the molar teeth it is broader, and it ends posteriorly in a rounded excavated border opposite the hinder border of the penultimate molar tooth. It is mainly formed by the maxillae, as the palatines are very narrow. The pterygoids are delicate slender slips of bone attached to the hinder border of the palatines, and supported externally by, and generally welded with, the rough pterygoid plates of the alisphenoid, with no pterygoid fossa between. They slope obliquely forwards, and end in curved, compressed, hamular processes. There is a distinct alisphenoid canal for the passage of the internal maxillary artery. The base of the cranium is long and narrow; the alisphenoid is very obliquely perforated by the foramen rotundum, but the foramen ovale is confluent with the large foramen lacerum medium behind. The glenoid surface for the articulation of the mandible is greatly extended transversely, concave from side to side, convex from before backwards in front, and hollow behind, and is bounded posteriorly at its inner part by a prominent post-glenoid process. The squamosal enters considerably into the formation of the temporal fossa, and, besides sending the zygomatic process forwards, it sends down behind the meatus auditorius a post-tympanic process which aids to hold in place the otherwise loose tympano-periotic bone. Behind this the exoccipital gives off a long paroccipital process. The periotic and tympanic are welded together, but not with the squamosal. The former has a wide but shallow floccular fossa on its inner side, and sends backwards a considerable "pars mastoidea," which appears on the outer surface of the skull between the post-tympanic process of the squamosal and the exoccipital. The tympanic forms a tubular meatus auditorius externus directed outwards and slightly backwards. It is not dilated into a distinct bulla, but ends in front in a pointed rod-like process. It completely embraces the truncated cylindrical tympanohyal, which is of great size, corresponding with the large development of the whole anterior arch of the hyoid. This consists mainly of a long and compressed stylohyal, expanded at the upper end, where it sends off a triangular posterior process. The basi-hyal is remarkable for the long, median, pointed, compressed "glossohyal" process, which it sends forward from its anterior border into the base of the tongue. A similar but less developed process is found in the rhinoceros and tapir. The lower jaw is large, especially the region of the angle, which is expanded and flattened, giving great surface for the attachment of the masseter muscle. The condyle is greatly elevated above the alveolar border; its articular surface is very wide transversely, and narrow and convex from before backwards. The coronoid process is slender, straight, and inclined backwards. The horizontal ramus, long, straight, and compressed, gradually narrows towards the symphysis, where it expands laterally to form with the ankylosed opposite ramus the wide, semicircular, shallow alveolar border for the incisor teeth.

The vertebral column consists of seven cervical, eighteen dorsal, six lumbar, five sacral, and fifteen to eighteen caudal vertebrae There may be nineteen rib-bearing vertebrae, in which case five only will be reckoned as belonging to the lumbar series. The odontoid process of the axis is wide, flat, and hollowed above, as in the ruminants. The bodies of the cervical vertebrae are elongated, strongly keeled, and markedly opisthocoelous, or concave behind and convex in front. The neural laminae are broad, the spines almost obsolete, except in the seventh, and the transverse processes not largely developed. In the trunk vertebrae the opisthocoelous character of the centrum gradually diminishes. The spinous processes of the anterior thoracic region are high and compressed. To these is attached the powerful elastic ligament (_ligamentum nuchae_, or "paxwax") which, passing forwards in the middle line of the neck above the neural arches of the cervical vertebrae--to which it is also connected--is attached to the occiput and supports the weight of the head. The transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae are long, flattened, and project horizontally outwards or slightly forward from the arch. The metapophyses are moderately developed, and there are no anapophyses. The caudal vertebrae, except those quite at the base, are slender and cylindrical, without processes and without chevron bones beneath. The ribs are eighteen or nineteen in number on each side, flattened, and united to the sternum by short, stout, tolerably well ossified sternal ribs. The sternum consists of six pieces; the anterior or presternum is compressed and projects forwards like the prow of a boat. The segments which follow gradually widen, and the hinder part of the sternum is broad and flat.

As in all other ungulates, there are no clavicles. The scapula is long and slender, the supra-scapular border being rounded, and slowly and imperfectly ossified. The spine is very slightly developed; rather above the middle its edge is thickened and somewhat turned backwards, but it gradually subsides at the lower extremity without forming any acromial process. The coracoid is a prominent rounded nodule. The humerus is stout and rather short. The ulna is rudimentary, being represented by little more than the olecranon. The shaft gradually tapers below and is firmly welded to the radius. The latter bone is of nearly equal width throughout. The three bones of the first row of the carpus (scaphoid, lunar and cuneiform) are subequal in size. The second row consists of a broad and flat magnum, supporting the great third metacarpal, having to its radial side the trapezoid, and to its ulnar side the unciform, which are both small, and articulate inferiorally with the rudimentary second and fourth metacarpals. The pisiform is large and prominent, flattened and curved; it articulates partly with the cuneiform and partly with the lower end of the radius. The large metacarpal is called in veterinary anatomy "cannon bone"; the small lateral metacarpals, which gradually taper towards their lower extremities, and lie in close contact with the large one, are called "splint bones." The single digit consists of a moderate-sized proximal (_os suffraginis_, or large pastern), a short middle (_os coronae_, or small pastern), and a wide, semi-lunar, ungual phalanx (_os pedis_, or coffin bone). There is a pair of large nodular sesamoids behind the metacarpo-phalangeal articulation, and a single large transversely-extended sesamoid behind the joint between the second and third phalanx, called the "navicular bone."

The carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist of man, is commonly called the "knee" of the horse, the joint between the metacarpal and the first phalanx the "fetlock," that between the first and second phalanges the "pastern," and that between the second and third phalanges the "coffin joint."

In the hinder limb the femur is marked, as in other perissodactyles, by the presence of a "third trochanter," a flattened process, curving forwards and arising from the outer side of the bone, about one-third of the distance from the upper end. The fibula is reduced to a mere rod-like rudiment of the upper end. The lower part is absent or completely fused with the tibia. The calcaneum has a long and compressed calcaneal process. The astragalus has a large flat articular surface in front for the navicular, and a small one for the cuboid. The navicular and the external cuneiform bones are broad and flat. The cuboid is small, and the internal and middle cuneiform bones are small and united together. The metapodals and phalanges resemble very closely those of the fore limb, but the principal metatarsal is more laterally compressed at its upper end than is the corresponding metacarpal. The joint between the femur and tibia, corresponding to the knee of man, is called the "stifle-joint"; that between the tibia and tarsus, corresponding to the ankle of man, the "hock." The bones and joints of the foot have the same names as in the fore limb. The horse is eminently "digitigrade," standing on the extremity of the single digit of each foot, which is kept habitually in a position approaching to vertical.

The muscles of the limbs are modified from those of the ordinary mammalian type in accordance with the reduced condition of the bones and the simple requirements of flexion and extension of the joints, no such actions as pronation and supination, or opposition of digits, being possible or needed. The muscles therefore which perform these functions in other quadrupeds are absent or rudimentary.

Below the carpal and tarsal joints, the fore and hind limbs correspond almost exactly in structure as well as function. On the anterior or extensor surface of the limb a powerful tendon (7 in fig. 2), that of the anterior extensor of the phalanges (corresponding to the _extensor communis digitorum_ of the arm and _extensor longus digitorum_ of the foot of man) passes down over the metacarpal bone and phalanges, to be inserted mainly into the upper edge of the anterior surface of the last phalanx or pedal bone. There is also a much smaller second extensor on the outer side of this in each limb, the lateral extensor of the phalanges. In the fore-leg the tendon of this muscle (which corresponds with the _extensor minimi digiti_ of man) receives a slip from that of the principal extensor, and is inserted into the first phalanx. In the hind-leg (where it is the homologue apparently of the _peroneus brevis_ of man) the tendon becomes blended with that of the large extensor.

A strong ligamentous band behind the metapodium, arising from near the upper extremity of its posterior surface, divides into two at its lower end, and each division, being first connected with one of the paired upper sesamoid bones, passes by the side of the first phalanx to join the extensor tendon of the phalanges. This is called in veterinary anatomy the "suspensory ligament of the sesamoids," or of the "fetlock" (10 in fig. 2); but its attachments and relations, as well as the occasional presence of muscular fibres in its substance, show that it is the homologue of the interosseous muscles of other mammals, modified in structure and function, to suit the requirements of the horse's foot. Behind or superficial to this are placed the two strong tendons of the flexor muscles, the most superficial, or _flexor perforatus_ (8) dividing to allow the other to pass through, and then inserted into the middle phalanx. The _flexor perforans_ (9) is as usual inserted into the terminal phalange. In the fore-leg these muscles correspond with those similarly named in man. In the hind-leg, the perforated tendon is a continuation of that of the plantaris, passing pulley-wise over the tuberosity of the calcaneum. The perforating tendon is derived from the muscle corresponding with the long flexor of man, and the smaller tendon of the oblique flexor (_tibialis porticus_ of man) is united with it.

The hoof of the horse corresponds to the nail or claw of other mammals, but is so constructed as to form a complete and solid case to the expanded termination of the toe, giving a firm basis of support formed of a non-sensitive substance, which is continually renewed by the addition of material from within, as its surface wears away by friction. The terminal phalange of the toe is greatly enlarged and modified in form to support this hoof, and the size of the internal framework of the foot is increased by a pair of lateral fibro-cartilaginous masses attached on each side to the hinder edges of the bone, and by a fibro-cellular and fatty plantar cushion in the median part. These structures are all enclosed in the middle subcorneous integument, a continuation of the ordinary skin of the limb, but extremely vascular, and having its superficial extent greatly increased by being developed into papillae or laminae. From this the horny material which constitutes the hoof is exuded. A thickened ring encircling the upper part, called coronary cushion (13) and the sole (15), are covered with numerous thickly-set papillae or villi, and take the greatest share in the formation of the hoof; the intermediate part constituting the front and side of the foot (14), corresponding with the wall of the hoof, is covered with parallel, fine longitudinal laminae, which fit into corresponding depressions in the inner side of the horny hoof.

The horny hoof is divided into a wall or crust consisting of the front and sides, the flattened or concave sole, and the frog, a triangular median prominence, notched posteriorly, with the apex turned forwards, situated in the hinder part of the sole. It is formed of pavement epithelial cells, mainly grouped in a concentric manner around the vascular papillae of the subcorneous integument, so that a section near the base of the hoof, cut transversely to the long axis of these papillae, shows a number of small circular or oval orifices, with cells arranged concentrically round them. The nearer the surface of the hoof, or farther removed from the seat of growth, the more indistinct the structure becomes.

Small round or oval plates of horny epithelium called "chestnuts," callosities growing like the hoof from enlarged papillae of the skin, are found on the inner face of the fore-arm, above the carpal joint in all species of Equidae, and in the horse (_E. caballus_) similar structures occur near the upper extremity of the inner face of the metatarsus. They are evidently rudimentary structures which it is suggested may represent glands (Lydekker, _Proc. Zool. Soc. London_, 1903, vol. i.).

_Dentition._--The dentition of the horse, when all the teeth are in place, is expressed by the formula _i._ 3/3, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 4/4 _m._ 3/3 = 44. The incisors of each jaw are placed in close contact, forming a semicircle. The crowns are broad, somewhat awl-shaped, and of nearly equal size. They have all the great peculiarity, not found in the teeth of any other mammal, and only in the Equidae of comparatively recent geological periods (see also PALAEONTOLOGY), of an involution of the external surface of the tooth (see fig. 3), by which what should properly be the apex is carried deeply into the interior of the crown, forming a pit, the bottom of which becomes partially filled with cement. As the tooth wears, the surface, besides the external enamel layer as in an ordinary simple tooth, shows in addition a second inner ring of the same hard substance surrounding the pit, which adds greatly to the efficiency of the tooth as an organ for biting tough, fibrous substances. This pit, generally filled in the living animal with particles of food, is conspicuous from its dark colour, and constitutes the "mark" by which the age of the horse is judged, as in consequence of its only extending to a certain depth in the crown it becomes obliterated as the latter wears away, and then the tooth assumes the character of that of an ordinary incisor, consisting only of a core of dentine, surrounded by the external enamel layer. It is not quite so deep in the lower as in the upper teeth. The canines are either rudimentary or absent in the female. In the male they are compressed, pointed, and smaller than the incisors, from which they are separated by a slight interval. The teeth of the cheek series are all in contact with each other, but separated from the canines by a considerable toothless space. The anterior premolars are quite rudimentary, sometimes not developed at all, and generally fall by the time the animal attains maturity, so that there are but six functional cheek teeth,--three that have predecessors in the milk-dentition, and hence are considered as premolars, and three molars, but otherwise, except the first and last of the series, not distinguishable in form or structure. These teeth in both upper and lower jaws are extremely long-crowned or hypsodont, successive portions being pushed out as the surface wears away, a process which continues until the animal becomes advanced in age. The enamelled surface is infolded in a complex manner (a modification of that found in other perissodactyles), the folds extending quite to the base of the crown, and the interstices being filled and the surface covered with a considerable mass of cement, which binds together and strengthens the whole tooth. As the teeth wear, the folded enamel, being harder than the other constituents, the dentine and cement, forms projecting ridges on the surface arranged in a definite pattern, which give it great efficiency as a grinding instrument (see fig. 2, in article EQUIDAE). The free surfaces of the upper teeth are quadrate, except the first and last, which are nearly triangular. The lower teeth are much narrower than the upper.

The milk-dentition consists of i. 3/3, c. 0/0, m. 3/3 = 24,--the canines and first or rudimentary premolars having apparently no predecessors. In form and structure the milk-teeth much resemble the permanent ones, having the same characteristic enamel-foldings. Their eruption commences a few days after birth, and is complete before the end of the first year, the upper teeth usually appearing somewhat earlier than the lower. The first teeth which appear are the first and second milk-molars (about five days), then the central incisor (from seven to ten days); this is followed by the second incisor (at one month), then the third molar, and finally the third incisor. Of the permanent teeth the first molar appears a little after the end of the first year, followed by the second molar before the end of the second year. At about two and a half years the first premolar replaces its predecessor. Between two and a half and three years the first incisor appears. At three years the second and third premolars, and the third molar have appeared, at from three and a half to four years the second incisor, at four to four and a half years the canine, and, finally, at five years, the third incisor, completing the permanent dentition. Up to this period the age of the horse is clearly shown by the condition of dentition, and for some time longer indications can be obtained from the wear of the incisors, though this depends to a certain extent upon the hardness of the food or other circumstances. As a general rule, the depression caused by the infolding of the surface of the incisor (the "mark") is obliterated in the first or central incisor at six years, in the second at seven years, and in the third at eight years. In the upper teeth, as the depressions are deeper, this obliteration does not take place until about two years later. After this period no certain indications can be obtained of the age of the horse from the teeth.

_Digestive Organs._--The lips are flexible and prehensile; and the membrane that lines them and the cheeks smooth. The palate is long and narrow; its mucous surface has seventeen pairs of not very sharply defined oblique ridges, extending as far back as the last molar tooth, beyond which the _velum palati_ extends for about 3 in., having a soft corrugated surface, and ending posteriorly in an arched border without a uvula. This embraces the base of the epiglottis, and, except while swallowing food, shuts off all communication between the cavity of the mouth and the pharynx, respiration being, under ordinary circumstances, exclusively through the nostrils. Between the mucous membrane and the bone of the hard palate is a dense vascular and nervous plexus. The membrane lining the jaws is soft and corrugated. An elongated raised glandular mass, 3 in. long and 1 in. from above downwards, extending backwards from the root of the tongue along the side of the jaws, with openings on the surface leading into crypts with glandular walls, represents the tonsil. The tongue, corresponding to the form of the mouth, is long and narrow. It consists of a compressed intermolar portion with a flat upper surface, broad behind and becoming narrower in front, and of a depressed anterior part rather shorter than the former, which is narrow behind and widens towards the evenly rounded apex. The dorsal surface generally is soft and smooth. There are two large circumvallate papillae near the base, rather irregular in form, about a quarter of an inch in diameter and half an inch apart. The conical papillae are small and close set, though longer and more filamentous on the intermolar portion. There are no fungiform papillae on the dorsum, but a few inconspicuous ones scattered along the sides of the organ.

Of the salivary glands the parotid is by far the largest, elongated in the vertical direction, and narrower in the middle than at either end. Its upper extremity embraces the lower surface of the cartilaginous ear-conch; its lower end reaches the level of the inferior margin of the mandible, along the posterior margin of which it is placed. Its duct leaves the inferior anterior angle, at first descends a little, and runs forward under cover of the rounded inferior border of the lower jaw, then curves up along the anterior margin of the masseter muscle, becoming superficial, pierces the buccinator, and enters the mouth by a simple aperture opposite the middle of the crown of the third premolar tooth. It is not quite so thick as a goose-quill when distended, and nearly a foot in length.

The submaxillary gland is of very similar texture to the last, but much smaller; it is placed deeper, and lies with its main axis horizontal. It is elongated and slender, and flattened from within outwards. Its posterior end rests against the anterior surface of the transverse process of the atlas, from which it extends forwards and downwards, slightly curved, to beneath the ramus of the jaw. The duct which runs along its upper and internal border passes forwards in the usual course, lying in the inner side of the sublingual gland, to open on the outer surface of a distinct papilla, situated on the floor of the mouth, half an inch from the middle line, and midway between the lower incisor teeth and the attachment of the fraenum linguae. The sublingual is represented by a mass of glands lying just beneath the mucous membrane of the floor of the mouth on the side of the tongue, causing a distinct ridge, extending from the fraenum backwards, the numerous ducts opening separately along the summit of the ridge. The buccal glands are arranged in two rows parallel with the molar teeth. The upper ones are the largest, and are continuous anteriorly with the labial glands, the ducts of which open on the mucous membrane of the upper lip.

The stomach of the horse is simple in its external form, with a largely developed right _cul de sac_, and is a good deal curved on itself, so that the cardiac and pyloric orifices are brought near together. The _antrum pyloricum_ is small and not very distinctly marked. The interior is divided by the character of the lining membrane into two distinct portions, right and left. Over the latter the dense white smooth epithelial lining of the oesophagus is continued, terminating abruptly by a raised crenulated border. Over the right part the mucous membrane has a greyish-red colour and a velvety appearance, and contains numerous peptic glands, which are wanting in the cardiac portion. The oesophageal orifice is small, and guarded by a strong crescentic or horseshoe-like band of muscular fibres, supposed to be the cause of the difficulty of vomiting in the horse. The small intestine is of great length (80 to 90 ft.), its mucous membrane being covered with numerous fine villi. The caecum is of conical form, about 2 ft. long and nearly a foot in diameter; its walls are sacculated, especially near the base, having four longitudinal muscular bands; and its capacity is about twice that of the stomach. It lies with its base near the lower part of the abdomen, and its apex directed towards the thorax. The colon is about one-third the length of the small intestine, and very capacious in the greater part of its course. As usual it may be divided into an ascending, transverse, and descending portion; but the middle or transverse portion is folded into a great loop, which descends as low as the pubis; so that the colon forms altogether four folds, generally parallel to the long axis of the body. The descending colon is much narrower than the rest, and not sacculated, and, being considerably longer than the distance it has to traverse, is thrown into numerous folds.

The liver is tolerably symmetrical in general arrangement, being divided nearly equally into segments by a well-marked umbilical fissure. Each segment is again divided by lateral fissures, which do not extend quite to the posterior border of the organ; of the central lobes thus cut off, the right is rather the larger, and has two fissures in its free border dividing it into lobules. The extent of these varies, however, in different individuals. The two lateral lobes are subtriangular in form. The Spigelian lobe is represented by a flat surface between the postal fissure and the posterior border, not distinctly marked off from the left lateral by a fissure of the ductus venosus, as this vessel is buried deep in the hepatic substance, but the caudate lobe is distinct and tongue-shaped, its free apex reaching nearly to the border of the right lateral lobe. There is no gall-bladder, and the biliary duct enters the duodenum about 6 in. from the pylorus. The pancreas has two lobes or branches, a long one passing to the left and reaching the spleen, and a shorter right lobe. The principal duct enters the duedenum with the bile-duct, and there is often a second small duct opening separately.

_Circulatory and Respiratory Organs._--The heart has the form of a rather elongated and pointed cone. There is one anterior vena cava, formed by the union of the two jugular and two axillary veins. The aorta gives off a large branch (the anterior aorta) very near its origin, from which arise--first, the left axillary, and afterwards the right axillary and the two carotid arteries.

Under ordinary circumstances the horse breathes entirely by the nasal passages, the communication between the larynx and the mouth being closed by the velum palati. The nostrils are placed laterally, near the termination of the muzzle, and are large and dilatable, being bordered by cartilages upon which several muscles act. Immediately within the opening of the nostril, the respiratory canal sends off on its upper and outer side a blind pouch ("false nostril") of conical form, and curved, 2 to 3 in. in depth, lying in the notch formed between the nasal and premaxillary bones. It is lined by mucous membrane continuous with that of the nasal passage; its use is not apparent. It is longer in the ass than in the horse. Here may be mentioned the guttural pouches, large air-sacs from the Eustachian tubes, and lying behind the upper part of the pharynx, the function of which is also not understood. The larynx has the lateral sacculi well developed, though entirely concealed within the alae of the thyroid cartilage. The trachea divides into two bronchi.

_Nervous System._--The brain differs little, except in details of arrangement of convolutions, from that of other ungulates. The hemispheres are rather elongated and subcylindrical, the olfactory lobes are large and project freely in front of the hemispheres, and the greater part of the cerebellum is uncovered. The eye is provided with a nictitating membrane or third eyelid, at the base of which open the ducts of the Harderian gland.

_Reproductive System._--The testes are situated in a distinct sessile or slightly pedunculated scrotum, into which they descend from the sixth to the tenth month after birth. The accessory generative glands are the two vesiculae seminales, with the median third vesicle, or _uterus masculinus_, lying between them, the single bilobed prostate, and a pair of globular Cowper's glands. The penis is very large, cylindrical, with a truncated, expanded, flattened termination. When in a state of repose it is retracted, by a muscle arising from the sacrum, within the prepuce, a cutaneous fold attached below the symphysis pubis.

The uterus is bicornuate. The vagina is often partially divided by a membraneous septum or hymen. The teats are two, inguinally placed. The surface of the chorion is covered evenly with minute villi, constituting a diffuse non-deciduate placenta. The period of gestation is eleven months.

AUTHORITIES.--R. I. Pocock, "The Species and Subspecies of Zebras," _Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist._ ser. 6, vol. xx., 1897, and "A New Arrangement of the Existing Species of Equidae," Op. cit. ser. 7, vol. x., 1902; R. Lydekker, "Notes on the specimens of Wild Asses in English Collections," _Novitates Zoologicae_, vol. xi., 1904; B. Salensky, "On Equus przewalskii," _Mem. Acad. St Petersburg_, 1902; M. S. Arloing, "Organisation du pied chez le cheval," _Ann. Sci. Nat._, 1867, viii. 55-81; H. Burmeister, _Los caballos fosiles de la Pampa Argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 1875); Chauveau and Arloing, _Traite d'anatomie comparee des animaux domestiques_ (Paris, 1871), and English edition by G. Fleming (1873); A. Ecker, "Das Europaische Wildpferd und dessen Beziehungen zum domesticirten Pferd," _Globus_, Bd. xxxiv. (Brunswick, 1878); Major Forsyth, "Beitrage zur Geschichte der fossilen Pferde besonders Italiens," _Abh. Schw. Pal. Ges._ iv. 1-16, pt. iv.; George, "Etudes zool. sur les Hemiones et quelques autres especes chevalines," _Ann. Sci. Nat._, 1869, xii. 5; E. F. Gurlt, _Anatomische Abbildungen der Haussaugethiere_ (1824), and _Hand. der vergleich. Anat. der Haussaugethiere_ (2 vols., 1822); Huet, "Croisement des diverses especes du genre cheval," _Nouv. Archives du Museum_, 2nd ser., tom. ii. p. 46, 1879; Leisering, _Atlas der Anatomie des Pferdes_ (Leipzig, 1861); O. C. Marsh, "Notice of New Equine Mammals from the Tertiary Formation," _Am. Journ. of Science and Arts_, vol. vii., March 1874; _Id._, "Fossil Horses in America," _Amer. Naturalist_, vol. viii., May 1874; _Id._, "Polydactyle Horses," _Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts_, vol. xvii., June 1879; Franz Muller, _Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Pferdes_ (Vienna, 1853); R. Owen, "Equine Remains in Cavern of Bruniquel," _Phil. Trans._ vol. clix., 1870, p. 535; W. Percivall, _The Anatomy of the Horse_ (1832); G. Stubbs, _Anatomy of the Horse_ (1766); W. H. Flower, _The Horse_ (London, 1891); Ridgeway, _Origin of the Thoroughbred Horse_ (1905). (W. H. F; R. L.*)

HISTORY

From the evidence of philology it appears that the horse was already known to the Aryans before the period of their dispersion.[1]

The first mention of the British horse occurs in the well-known passages in Caesar (_B.G._ iv. 24. 33, v. 15. 16; cf. Pomp. Mela iii. 6), in which he mentions the native "essedarii" and the skill with which they handled their war chariots. We are left quite in the dark as to the character of the animal thus employed; but there would appear to be much probability in the surmise of W. Youatt, who conjectures the horse to have been, "then as ever, the creature of the country in which he lived. With short fare, and exposed to the rigour of the seasons, he was probably the little hardy thing we yet see him; but in the marshes of the Nen and the Witham, and on the borders of the Tees and the Clyde, there would be as much proportionate development of frame and strength as we find at the present day." After the occupation of the country by the Romans, it appears that the horses of their cavalry were crossed with the native mares, and thus there was infused into the breed new blood, consisting probably of strains from every quarter from which Roman remounts were procured. As to the effect of this cross we are not, however, in a position to judge. We are also quite uncertain as to the extent to which the Jutes and Saxons may in their turn have again introduced a new breed of horses into England; and even to the close of the Anglo-Saxon period of English history allusions to the horse are still very infrequent. The _horsthegn_ we know, however, was from an early period a high court official; and from such a law as that of Athelstan prohibiting the exportation of horses except as presents, it may be inferred that the English breed was not only much valued at home but also in great request abroad.[2]

The period of the Norman Conquest marks an important stage in the history of the British horse. William the Conqueror's own horse was of the Spanish breed, and others of the same kind were introduced by the barons on their estates. But the Norman horses included many varieties, and there is no doubt that to the Conquest the inhabitants of Britain were indebted for a decided improvement in the native horse, as well as for the introduction of several varieties previously unknown. According to Giraldus Cambrensis, Roger de Bellesme, a follower of William I., afterwards created earl of Shrewsbury, imported some stallions from Spain into England; their produce was celebrated by Drayton the poet. It is curious to notice that agriculture seems to be the last use to which the horse has been put. The earliest suggestion that horses were used in agriculture is derived from a piece of the Bayeux tapestry, where a horse is represented as drawing a harrow. This, however, must have been an exceptional case, for we know that oxen were used until a comparatively late time, and that in Wales a law existed forbidding horses to be used for ploughing.

In 1121 two Eastern horses are said to have been imported,--one of them remaining in England, and the other being sent as a present by King Alexander I. to the church of St Andrews, in Scotland. It has been alleged that these horses were Barbs from Morocco, but a still more likely theory is that they existed only in name, and never reached either England or Scotland. The crusades were probably the means of introducing fresh strains of blood into England, and of giving opportunity for fresh crossings. The Spanish jennet was brought over about 1182. King John gave great encouragement to horse-breeding: one of his earliest efforts was to import a hundred Flemish stallions, and, having thus paved the way for improving the breed of agricultural horses, he set about acquiring a valuable stud for his own use.

Edward III. was likewise an admirer of the horse; he procured fifty Spanish horses, probably jennets. At this time there was evidently a tendency to breed a somewhat lighter and speedier horse; but, while the introduction of a more active animal would soon have led to the displacement of the ponderous but powerful cavalry horse then in use, the substituted variety would have been unable to carry the weight of armour with which horse and rider were alike protected; and so in the end the old breed was kept up for a time. With the object of preserving to England whatever advantages might accrue from her care and skill in breeding an improved stamp of horses, Edward III. forbade their exportation; they consequently improved so rapidly in value that Richard II. compelled dealers to limit their prices to a fixed maximum. In the ninth year of his reign, Edward received from the king of Navarre a present of two running horses, supposed to have been valuable. The wars of 1346 checked the improvement of horses, and undid much of what had been previously accomplished, for we read that the cavalry taken into France by Edward III. were but indifferently mounted, and that in consequence he had to purchase large numbers of foreign horses from Hainault and elsewhere for remounts. The reign of Richard III. does not seem to have been remarkable for the furtherance of horse-breeding; but it was then that post-horses and stages were introduced.

Our information on the whole subject is but scanty down to the reign of Henry VII., who continued the enactment against the exportation of stallions, but relaxed it in the case of mares above two years old. His object was to retain the best horses in the country, and to keep the price of them down by limiting the demand and encouraging the supply. In his reign gelding is believed to have had its origin, on account of numerous herds of horses belonging to different proprietors grazing together, especially in time of harvest. Henry VIII. was particularly careful that horse-breeding should be conducted on right principles, and his enactments, if somewhat arbitrary, were singularly to the point. In the thirty-second year of this reign, the "bill for the breed of horses" was passed, the preamble of which runs thus:--"Forasmuch as the generation and breed of good and strong horses within this realm extendeth not only to a great help and defence of the same, but also is a great commodity and profit to the inhabitants thereof, which is now much decayed and diminished, by reason that, in forests, chases, moors and waste grounds within this realm, little stoned horses and nags of small stature and of little value be not only suffered to pasture thereupon, but also to cover mares feeding there, whereof cometh in manner no profit or commodity." Section 2 of the act provides that no entire horse being above the age of two years, and not being of the height of 15 "handfulls," shall be put to graze on any common or waste land in certain counties; any one was to be at liberty to seize a horse of unlawful height, and those whose duty it was to measure horses, but who refused to do so, were to be fined 40s. By section 6 all forests, chases, commons, &c., were to be "driven" within fifteen days of Michaelmas day, and all horses, mares and colts not giving promise of growing into serviceable animals, or of producing them, were to be killed. The aim of the act was to prevent breeding from animals not calculated to produce the class of horse suited to the needs of the country. By another act (27 Henry VIII. chapter 6), after stating that the "breed of good strong horses" was likely to diminish, it was ordered that the owners of all parks and enclosed grounds of the extent of one mile should keep two mares 13 hands high for breeding purposes, or, if the extent of the ground was 4 m., four mares. The statute was not to extend to the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland or the bishopric of Durham. Henry took great pains to improve the royal stud: according to Sir Thomas Chaloner--a writer in the reign of Elizabeth--he imported horses from Turkey, Naples and Spain.

Queen Elizabeth is reputed to have been an accomplished horsewoman, and to have indulged in riding late in life. In the first year of her reign she revived an act passed by Henry VIII. making it felony "to sell, exchange or deliver within Scotland, or to the use of any Scottishman, any horse"; this, however, was very naturally repealed by James I. Carriages were soon after introduced, and the use of them speedily became so fashionable that a bill was brought in "to restrain the excessive and superfluous use of coaches." Prior to the introduction of carriages horseback was the means of locomotion, and Queen Elizabeth rode in state to St Paul's on a pillion; but even after carriages were used, horseback was held to be more dignified, for James I. and his judges rode on horseback to Westminster Hall. One advantage of the introduction of carriages was that it created a demand for a lighter and quicker sort of horse, instead of the ponderous animal which, despite all attempts to banish him, was still the horse of England--the age of chivalry having been the first epoch of the British horse.

Gunpowder, too, was invented; and now that the weight of the cavalry soldier was diminished by the substitution of lighter armour, a quicker and better bred horse was thought desirable for military service. The introduction of carriages and the invention of gunpowder thus opened out a new industry in breeding; and a decided change was gradually creeping on by the time that James I. came to the throne (1603), which commences the second epoch. James was a thorough sportsman, and his taste for racing, in which he freely indulged, caused him to think but little of the speed of even the best English horses. With the laudable motive, therefore, of effecting improvement in horses, he gave the then large sum of 500 guineas for an Arab stallion which had been procured from Constantinople by a Mr Markham, since known as the "Markham Arabian." This is the first authentic account we have of the importation of Arab blood, and the _Stud-Book_ says he was the first of that breed ever seen in England. The people having to do with horses at that time were as conservative in their notions as most of the grooms are now, and the "Markham Arabian" was not at all approved of. The duke of Newcastle, in his treatise on horsemanship, said that he had seen the above Arabian, and described him as a small bay horse and not of very excellent shape. In this instance, however, prejudice (and it is difficult to believe that it was anything else) was right, for King James's first venture does not appear to have been a success either as a race-horse or as a sire, and thus Arabian blood was brought into disrepute. The king, however, resolved to give Eastern blood another trial, and bought a horse known as Place's White Turk from a Mr Place, who subsequently held some office in connexion with the stable under Cromwell. Charles I. followed in the footsteps of James, and lent such patronage to the breeding of a better kind of horse that a memorial was presented to him, asking that some measures might be taken to prevent the old stamp of horse "fit for the defence of the country" from dying out.

We now come to a very important period in the history of the British horse, for Charles II. warmly espoused the introduction of Eastern blood into England. He sent his master of the horse abroad to purchase a number of foreign horses and mares for breeding, and the mares brought over by him (as also many of their produce) were called "royal mares"; they form a conspicuous feature in the annals of breeding. The _Stud-Book_ shows of what breed the royal mares really were: one of them, the dam of Dodsworth (who, though foaled in England, was a natural Barb), was a Barb mare; she was sold by the stud-master, after Charles II.'s death, for forty guineas, at twenty years old, when in foal by the Helmsley Turk.

James II. was a good horseman, and had circumstances been more propitious he might have left his mark in the sporting annals of the country. In his reign, according to the _Stud-Book_, the Stradling or Lister Turk was brought into England by the duke of Berwick from the siege of Buda.

The reign of William III. is noteworthy as the era in which, among other importations, there appeared the first of three Eastern horses to which the modern thoroughbred race-horse traces back as the founders of his lineage. This was the Byerly Turk, of whom nothing more is known than that--to use the words of the first volume of the _Stud-Book_--he was Captain Byerly's charger in Ireland in King William's wars. The second of the three horses above alluded to was the Darley Arabian, who was a genuine Arab, and was imported from Aleppo by a brother of Mr Darley of Aldby Park, Yorkshire, about the end of the reign of William III. or the beginning of that of Anne. The third horse of the famous trio, the Godolphin Arabian or Barb, brought to England about five-and-twenty years after the Darley Arabian, will be more particularly referred to further on. All the horses now on the turf or at the stud trace their ancestry in the direct male line to one or other of these three--the Byerly Turk, the Darley Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian or Barb. In the female line their pedigrees can be traced to other sources, but for all practical purposes it suffices to regard one or other of these three animals as the _ultima Thule_ of racing pedigree. Of course there is a large interfusion of the blood of each of the trio through the dams of horses of the present day; indeed, it is impossible to find an English race-horse which does not combine the blood of all three.

_The Race-horse._--The third and last epoch of the British horse, viz. that of the thoroughbred racer, may be taken to date from the beginning of the 18th century. By thoroughbred is meant a horse or mare whose pedigree is registered in the _Stud-Book_ kept by Messrs Weatherby, the official agents of the Jockey Club--originally termed the keepers of the match-book--as well as publishers of the _Racing Calendar_. The first attempt to evolve order out of the chaos which had long reigned supreme was made in 1791, for we find in the preface of the first volume of the Stud-Book, published in 1808, that "with a view to correct the then increasing evil of false and inaccurate pedigrees, the author was in the year 1791 prevailed upon to publish an _Introduction to a General Stud-Book_, consisting of a small collection of pedigrees which he had extracted from racing calendars and sale papers and arranged on a new plan." It will be seen that the compiler of the volume on which so much depends had to go back fully a century, with little else to guide him but odds and ends in the way of publications and tradition. Mistakes under such circumstances are pardonable. The _Stud-Book_ then (vol. i.), which is the oldest authority we have, contains the names and in most cases the pedigrees, obscure though they may be, of a very large number of horses and mares of note from the earliest accounts, but with two exceptions no dates prior to the 18th century are specified in it. These exceptions are the Byerly Turk, who was "Captain Byerly's charger in Ireland in King William's wars (1689, &c.)," and a horse called Counsellor, bred by Mr Egerton in 1694, by Lord D'Arcy's Counsellor by Lord Lonsdale's Counsellor by the Shaftesbury Turk out of sister to Spanker--all the dams in Counsellor's pedigree tracing back to Eastern mares. There is not the least doubt that many of the animals named in the _Stud-Book_ were foaled much earlier than the above dates, but we have no particulars as to time; and after all it is not of much consequence.

The _Stud-Book_ goes on to say of the Byerly Turk that he did not cover many bred mares, but was the sire of the duke of Devonshire's Basto, Halloway's Jigg, and others. Jigg, or Jig, is a very important factor, as will be seen hereafter. The _Stud-Book_, although silent as to the date of his birth, says he was a common country stallion in Lincolnshire until Partner was six years old--and we know from the same authority that Partner was foaled in 1718; we may therefore conclude that Jigg was a later foal than Basto, who, according to Whyte's _History of the Turf_, was a brown horse foaled in 1703.

The reign of Queen Anne, however (1702-1714), is that which will ever be inseparably connected with the thoroughbred race-horse on account of the fame during that period of the Darley Arabian, a bay stallion, from whom our very best horses are descended. According to the _Stud-Book_, "Darley's Arabian was brought over by a brother of Mr Darley of Yorkshire, who, being an agent in merchandise abroad, became member of a hunting club, by which means he acquired interest to procure this horse." The _Stud-Book_ is silent, and other authorities differ, as to the date of the importation of this celebrated Arab, some saying he came over in the year 1700, others that he arrived somewhat later; but we know from the _Stud-Book_ that Manica (foaled in 1707), Aleppo (1711), Almanzor (1713), and Flying Childers (1715) were got by him, as also was Bartlett's Childers, a younger brother of Flying Childers. It is generally believed that he was imported in Anne's reign, but the exact date is immaterial, for, assuming that he was brought over as early as 1700 from Aleppo, he could scarcely have had a foal living before 1701, the first year of the 18th century. The Darley Arabian did much to remove the prejudice against Eastern blood which had been instilled into the public mind by the duke of Newcastle's denunciation of the Markham Arabian. Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne, was himself a large horse-owner; and it was in a great measure owing to his intervention that so many valuable stallions were imported during her reign.

At this period we find, among a mass of horses and mares in the _Stud-Book_ without any dates against their names, many animals of note with the earliest chronology extant, from Grey Ramsden (1704) and Bay Bolton (1705) down to a mare who exercised a most important influence on the English blood-horse. This was Roxana (1718) by the Bald Galloway, her dam sister to Chanter by the Akaster Turk, from a daughter of Leedes's Arabian and a mare by Spanker. Roxana threw in 1732 the bay colt Lath by the Godolphin Arabian, the sorrel colt Roundhead by Childers in 1733, and the bay colt Cade by the Godolphin Arabian in 1734, in which year she died within a fortnight after foaling, the produce--Cade--being reared on cow's milk. The Godolphin Barb or Arabian, as he was commonly called, was a brown bay about 15 hands in stature, with an unnaturally high crest, and with some white on his off hind heel. He is said to have been imported into England from France by Mr Coke, where, as the editor of the _Stud-Book_ was informed by a French gentlemen, he was so little thought of that he had actually drawn a cart in the streets of Paris. Mr Coke gave him to a Mr. Williams, who in his turn presented him to the earl of Godolphin. Although called an Arabian, there is little doubt he was a Barb pure and simple. In 1731, being then the property of Mr. Coke, he was teazer to Hobgoblin, and on the latter refusing his services to Roxana, the mare was put to the Godolphin, and the produce was Lath (1732), the first of his get, and the most celebrated race-horse of his day after Flying Childers. He was also the sire of Cade, own brother to Lath, and of Regulus the maternal grandsire of Eclipse. He died at Gogmagog in Cambridgeshire, in the possession of Lord Godolphin, in 1753, being then, as is supposed, in his twenty-ninth year. He is believed to have been foaled in Barbary about 1724, and to have been imported during the reign of George II.

In regard to the mares generally, we have a record of the royal mares already alluded to, and likewise of three Turk mares brought over from the siege of Vienna in 1684, as well as of other importations; but it is unquestionable that there was a very large number of native mares in England, improved probably from time to time by racing, however much they may have been crossed at various periods with foreign horses, and that from this original stock were to some extent derived the size and stride which characterized the English race-horse, while his powers of endurance and elegant shape were no doubt inherited from the Eastern horses, most of which were of a low stature, 14 hands or thereabouts. It is only necessary to trace carefully back the pedigree of most of the famous horses of early times to discover faults on the side of the dam--that is to say, the expression "dam's pedigree unknown," which evidently means of original or native blood. Whatever therefore may be owing to Eastern blood, of which from the middle of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th century a complete wave swept over the British Isles, some credit is unquestionably due to the native mares (which Blaine says were mostly Cleveland bays) upon which the Arabian, Barb, or Turk blood was grafted, and which laid the foundation of the modern thoroughbred. Other nations may have furnished the blood, but England has made the race-horse.

Without prosecuting this subject further, it may be enough here to follow out the lines of the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Turk, and the Godolphin Arabian or Barb, the main ancestors of the British thoroughbred of the 18th and 19th centuries, through several famous race-horses, each and all brilliant winners,--Flying Childers, Eclipse, Herod and Matchem,--to whom it is considered sufficient to look as the great progenitors of the race-horse of to-day.

1. The Darley Arabian's line is represented in a twofold degree--first, through his son Flying Childers, his grandsons Blaze and Snip, and his great-grandson Snap, and, secondly, through his other son Bartlett's Childers and his great-great-grandson Eclipse. Flying or Devonshire Childers, so called to distinguish him from other horses of the same name, was a bay horse of entirely Eastern blood, with a blaze in his face and four white feet, foaled in 1715. He was bred by Mr Leonard Childers of Carr House near Doncaster, and was purchased when young by the duke of Devonshire. He was got by the Darley Arabian from Betty Leedes, by Careless from sister to Leedes, by Leedes's Arabian from a mare by Spanker out of a Barb mare, who was Spanker's own mother. Spanker himself was by D'Arcy's Yellow Turk from a daughter of the Morocco Barb and Old Bald Peg, by an Arab horse from a Barb mare. Careless was by Spanker from a Barb mare, so that Childers's dam was closely in-bred to Spanker. Flying Childers--the wonder of his time--was never beaten, and died in the duke of Devonshire's stud in 1741, aged twenty-six years. He was the sire of, among other horses, Blaze (1733) and Snip (1736). Snip too had a celebrated son called Snap (1750), and it is chiefly in the female line through the mares by these horses, of which there are fully thirty in the _Stud-Book_, that the blood of Flying Childers is handed down to us.

The other representative line of the Darley Arabian is through Bartlett's Childers, also bred by Mr Leonard Childers, and sold to Mr Bartlett of Masham, in Yorkshire. He was for several years called Young Childers,--it being generally supposed that he was a younger brother of his Flying namesake, but his date of birth is not on record,--and subsequently Bartlett's Childers. This horse, who was never trained, was the sire of Squirt (1732), whose son Marske (1750) begat Eclipse and Young Marske (1762), sire of Shuttle (1793). This at least is the generally accepted theory, although Eclipse's dam is said to have been covered by Shakespeare as well as by Marske. Shakespeare was the son of Hobgoblin by Aleppo, and consequently the male line of the Darley Arabian would come through these horses instead of through Bartlett's Childers, Squirt, and Marske; the _Stud-Book_, however, says that Marske was the sire of Eclipse. This last-named celebrated horse--perhaps the most celebrated in the annals of the turf--was foaled on the 1st of April 1764, the day on which a remarkable eclipse of the sun occurred, and he was named after it. He was bred by the duke of Cumberland, after whose decease he was purchased by a Mr Wildman, and subsequently sold to Mr D. O'Kelly, with whom he will ever be identified. His dam Spiletta was by Regulus, son of the Godolphin Barb, from Mother Western, by a son of Snake from a mare by Old Montague out of a mare by Hautboy, from a daughter of Brimmer and a mare whose pedigree was unknown. In Eclipse's pedigree there are upwards of a dozen mares whose pedigrees are not known, but who are supposed to be of native blood. Eclipse was a chestnut horse with a white blaze down his face; his off hind leg was white from the hock downwards, and he had black spots upon his rump--this peculiarity coming down to the present day in direct male descent. His racing career commenced at five years of age, viz. on the 3rd May 1769, at Epsom, and terminated on the 4th October 1770, at Newmarket. He ran or walked over for eighteen races, and was never beaten. It was in his first race that Mr O'Kelly took the odds to a large amount before the start for the second heat, that he would place the horses. When called upon to declare, he uttered the exclamation, which the event justified, "Eclipse first, and the rest nowhere."

Eclipse commenced his stud career in 1771, and had an enormous number of foals, of which four only in the direct male line have come down to us, viz. Potoooooooo, or, as he is commonly called, Pot-8-os (1773), his most celebrated son, King Fergus (1775), Joe Andrews (1778), and Mercury (1778), though several others are represented in the female line. Pot-8-os was the sire of Waxy (1790) out of Maria (1777) by Herod out of Lisette (1772) by Snap. Waxy, who has been not inaptly termed the ace of trumps in the _Stud-Book_, begat Whalebone (1807), Web (1808), Woful (1809), Wire (1811), Whisker (1812), and Waxy Pope (1806), all but the last being out of Penelope (1798) by Trumpator (1782) from Prunella (1788) by Highflyer out of Promise by Snap, while Waxy Pope was out of Prunella, dam of Parasol (1800) by Pot-8-os. Trumpator was a son of Conductor, who was by Matchem out of a mare by Snap.

Whalebone's best sons were Camel (1822) and Sir Hercules (1826). Camel was the sire of Defence (1824) and Touchstone (1831), while Sir Hercules was the sire of Birdcatcher (1833) and Faugh-a-Ballagh (1841), own brothers, and of Gemma di Vergy (1854). Touchstone was the sire of Newminster (1848), who begat Lord Clifden, Adventurer, and the Hermit, as well as of Orlando (1841), sire of Teddington (1848). Whalebone's blood also descends through Waverley (1817) and his son the Saddler (1828), while Whisker is represented by the Colonel (1825) and by Economist (1825) and his son Harkaway (1834), sire of King Tom (1851). Birdcatcher begat, besides Saunterer (1854), the Baron (1842), sire of Stockwell (1849) and of Rataplan (1850). Stockwell, who was a chestnut with black spots, was the sire of Blair Athol (1861), a chestnut, and also of Doncaster (1870), another chestnut, but with the characteristic black spots of his grandsire; and Doncaster was the sire of the chestnut Bend Or (1877).

To turn to Eclipse's other sons. King Fergus (1775) was the sire of Beningbrough (1791), whose son was Orville (1799), whence comes some of the stoutest blood on the turf, including Emilius (1820) and his son Priam (1827), Plenipotentiary (1831), Muley (1810), Chesterfield (1834), and the Hero (1843). Joe Andrews (1778) was the sire of Dick Andrews (1797), and from him descend Tramp (1810), Lottery (1820), Liverpool (1828), Sheet Anchor (1832), Lanercost (1835), Weatherbit (1842), Beadsman (1855), and Blue Gown (1865). Mercury was sire of Gohanna (1790), who was foaled in the same year as Waxy, and the two, who were both grandsons of Eclipse and both out of Herod mares, had several contests, Waxy generally getting the better of his cousin. Gohanna's descendants come down through Golumpus (1802), Catton (1809), Mulatto (1823), Royal Oak (1823), and Slane (1833).

2. The Byerly Turk's line is represented by Herod, the Turk being the sire of Jigg, who was the sire of Partner (1718), whose son Tartar (1743) begat King Herod, or Herod as he was commonly called, foaled in 1758. Herod's dam was Cypron (1750) by Blaze (1733), son of Flying Childers. Cypron's dam was Selima by Bethel's Arabian from a mare by Graham's Champion from a daughter of the Darley Arabian and a mare who claims Merlin for her sire, but whose mother's pedigree is unknown. In Herod's pedigree there are fully a dozen dams whose pedigree is unknown. Herod was a bay horse about 15 hands 3 inches high, possessed both of substance and length,--those grand requisites in a race-horse,--combined with uncommon power and stamina or lasting qualities. He was bred by William, duke of Cumberland, uncle of King George III. He commenced his racing career in October 1763, when he was five years old, and ended it on the 16th of May 1767. He ran ten times, winning six and losing four races. He died in 1780, and among other progeny left two famous sons, Woodpecker (1773), whose dam was Miss Ramsden (1760) by Cade, son of the Godolphin Barb, but descended also on the dam's side from the Darley Arabian and the Byerly Turk, and Highflyer (1774), whose dam was Rachel (1763) by Blank, son of the Godolphin Barb from a daughter of Regulus, also son of the Godolphin. These two horses have transmitted Herod's qualities down to the present day in the direct male line, although in the female line he is represented through some of his other sons and his daughters as well. Woodpecker was the sire of Buzzard (1787), who in his turn became the father of three celebrated sons, Castrel (1801), Selim (1802), and Rubens (1803), all three chestnuts, and all out of an Alexander mare (1790), who thereby became famous. This mare was by Eclipse's son Alexander (1782) out of a mare by Highflyer (son of Herod) out of a daughter of Alfred, by Matchem out of a daughter of Snap. Bustard (1813), whose dam was a daughter of Shuttle, and his son Heron (1833), Sultan (1816) and his sons Glencoe (1831) and Bay Middleton (1833) and Middleton's sons Cowl (1842) and the Flying Dutchman (1846), Pantaloon (1824) and his son Windhound (1847), Langar (1817) and his son Epirus (1834) and grandson Pyrrhus the First (1843), are representatives of Castrel and Selim.

Highflyer is represented through his greatly esteemed son Sir Peter Teazle, commonly called Sir Peter (1784), whose dam was Papillon by Snap. Sir Peter had five sons at the stud, Walton (1790), Stamford (1794), and Sir Paul (1802) being the chief. Paulowitz (1813), Cain (1822), Ion (1835), Wild Dayrell (1852), and his son Buccaneer (1857) bring down Sir Paul's blood; whilst Walton is represented through Phantom (1806), Partisan (1811) and his sons Glaucus (1829) and Venison (1833) and Gladiator (1833), Venison's sons Alarm (1842) and Kingston (1849), Gladiator's son Sweetmeat (1842), Sweetmeat's sons Macaroni (1860) and Parmesan (1857), and Parmesan's sons Favonius (1868) and Cremorne (1869). It may be added that in the first volume of the _Stud-Book_ there are nearly a hundred Herod and Highflyer mares registered.

3. The Godolphin Barb is represented by Matchem, as the former was the sire of Cade (1734), and Cade begat Matchem, who was foaled in 1748. He was thus ten years the senior of Herod, representing the Byerly Turk, and sixteen years before Eclipse, though long subsequent to Flying Childers, who represent the Darley Arabian. Matchem was a brown bay horse with some white on his off hind heel, about 15 hands high, bred by Sir John Holme of Carlisle, and sold to Mr W. Fenwick of Bywell, Northumberland. His dam was sister to Miss Partner (1735) by Partner out of Brown Farewell by Makeless (son of the Oglethorpe Arabian) from a daughter of Brimmer out of Trumpet's dam, by Place's White Turk from a daughter of the Barb Dodsworth and a Layton Barb mare; while Brimmer was by D'Arcy's Yellow Turk from a royal mare. Matchem commenced his racing career on the 2nd of August 1753, and terminated it on 1st September 1758. Out of thirteen engagements he won eleven and lost two. He died in 1781, aged thirty-three years. His best son was Conductor (1767) out of a mare by Snap; Conductor was the sire of Trumpator (1782), whose two sons, Sorcerer (1790) and Paynator (1791), transmit the blood of the Godolphin down to modern times. Sorcerer was the sire of Soothsayer (1808), Comus (1809), and Smolensko (1810). Comus was the sire of Humphrey Clinker (1822), whose son was Melbourne (1834), sire of West Australian (1850) and of many valuable mares, including Canezou (1845) and Blink Bonny (1854), dam of Blair Athol. Paynator was the sire of Dr Syntax (1811), who had a celebrated daughter called Beeswing (1833), dam of Newminster by Touchstone.

The gems of the three lines may be briefly enumerated thus: (1) of the Darley Arab's line--Snap, Shuttle, Waxy, and Orville--the stoutest blood on the turf; (2) of the Byerly Turk's line--Buzzard and Sir Peter--speedy blood, the latter the stouter of the two; (3) of the Godolphin Barb's line--Sorcerer--often producing large-sized animals, but showing a tendency to die out, and becoming rare.

On the principle that as a rule like begets like, it has been the practice to select as sires the best public performers on the turf, and of two horses of like blood it is sound sense to choose the better as against the inferior public performer. But there can be little doubt that the mating of mares with horses has been often pursued on a haphazard plan, or on no system at all; to this the _Stud-Book_ testifies too plainly. In the article HORSE-RACING mention is made of some of the great horses of recent years; but the following list of the principal sires of earlier days indicates also how their progeny found a place among the winners of the three great races, the Derby (D), Oaks (O), and St Leger (L):--

_Eclipse_: Young Eclipse (D), Saltram (D), Sergeant (D), Annette (O).

_Herod_: Bridget (O), Faith (O), Maid of the Oaks (O), Phenomenon (L).

_Matchem_: Teetotum (O), Hollandaise (L).

_Florizel_ (son of Herod): Diomed (D), Eager (D), Tartar (L), Ninety-three (L).

_Highflyer_: Noble (D), Sir Peter Teazle (D), Skyscraper (D), Violante (O), Omphale (L), Cowslip (L), Spadille (L), Young Flora (L).

_Pot-8-os_: Waxy (D), Champion (D, L), Tyrant (D), Nightshade (O).

_Sir Peter_ (D): Sir Harry (D), Archduke (D), Ditto (D), Paris (D), Hermione (O), Parasite (O), Ambrosio (L), Fyldener (L), Paulina (L), Petronius (L).

_Waxy_ (D): Pope (D), Whalebone (D), Blucher (D), Whisker (D), Music (O), Minuet (O), Corinne (O).

_Whalebone_ (D): Moses (D), Lapdog (D), Spaniel (D), Caroline (O).

_Woful_: Augusta (O), Zinc (O), Theodore (L).

_Whisker_ (D): Memnon (L), The Colonel (L).

_Phantom_: Cedric (D), Middleton (D), Cobweb (O).

_Orville_ (L): Octavius (D), Emilius (D), Ebor (L).

_Tramp_: St Giles (D), Dangerous (D), Barefoot (L).

_Emilius_ (D): Priam (D), Plenipotentiary (D), Oxygen (O), Mango (L).

_Priam_ (D): Miss Seltz (O), Industry (O), Crucifix (O).

_Sir Hercules_: Coronation (D), Faugh-a-Ballagh (L), Birdcatcher (L).

_Touchstone_ (L): Cotherstone (D), Orlando (D), Surplice (D, L), Mendicant (O), Blue Bonnet (L), Newminster (L).

_Birdcatcher_ (L): Daniel O'Rourke (D), Songstress (O), Knight of St George (L), Warlock (L), The Baron (L).

_The Baron_ (L): Stockwell (L).

_Melbourne_: West Australian (D, L), Blink Bonny (D, O), Sir Tatton Sykes (L).

_Newminster_ (L): Musjid (D), Hermit (D), Lord Clifden (L).

_Sweetmeat_: Macaroni (D), Mincemeat (O), Mincepie (O).

_Stockwell_ (L): Blair Athol (D, L), Lord Lyon (D, L), Doncaster (D), Regalia (O), St Albans (L), Caller Ou (L), The Marquis (L), Achievement (L).

_King Tom_: Kingcraft (D), Tormentor (O), Hippia (O), Hannah (O, L).

_Rataplan_ (son of the Baron): Kettledrum (D).

_Monarque_: Gladiateur (D, L).

_Parmesan_ (son of Sweetmeat): Favonius (D), Cremorne (D).

_Buccaneer_: Kisber (D), Formosa (O, L), Brigantine (O).

_Lord Clifden_ (L): Jannette (O, L), Hawthornden (L), Wenlock (L), Petrarch (L).

_Adventurer_: Pretender (D), Apology (O, L), Wheel of Fortune (O).

_Blair Athol_ (D, L): Silvio (D, L), Craig Millar (L).

In regard to mares it has very frequently turned out that animals which were brilliant public performers have been far less successful as dams than others which were comparatively valueless as runners. Beeswing, a brilliant public performer, gave birth to a good horse in Newminster; the same may be said of Alice Hawthorn, dam of Thormanby, of Canezou, dam of Fazzoletto, of Crucifix, dam of Surplice, and of Blink Bonny, dam of Blair Athol; but many of the greatest winners have dropped nothing worth training. On the other hand, there are mares of little or no value as racers who have become the mothers of some of the most celebrated horses on the turf; among them we may cite Queen Mary, Pocahontas and Paradigm. Queen Mary, who was by Gladiator out of a daughter of Plenipotentiary and Myrrha by Whalebone, when mated with Melbourne produced Blink Bonny (winner of the Derby and Oaks); when mated with Mango and Lanercost she produced Haricot, dam of Caller Ou (winner of the St Leger). Pocahontas, perhaps the most remarkable mare in the _Stud-Book_, never won a race on the turf, but threw Stockwell and Rataplan to the Baron, son of Birdcatcher, King Tom to Harkaway, Knight of St Patrick to Knight of St George, and Knight of Kars to Nutwith--all these horses being 16 hands high and upwards, while Pocahontas was a long low mare of about 15 hands or a trifle more. She also gave birth to Ayacanora by Birdcatcher, and to Araucaria by Ambrose, both very valuable brood mares, Araucaria being the dam of Chamant by Mortemer, and of Rayon d'Or by Flageolet, son of Plutus by Touchstone. Paradigm again produced, among several winners of more or less celebrity, Lord Lyon (winner of the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby and St Leger) and Achievement (winner of the St Leger), both being by Stockwell. Another famous mare was Manganese (1853) by Birdcatcher from Moonbeam by Tomboy from Lunatic by the Prime Minister from Maniac by Shuttle. Manganese when mated with Rataplan threw Mandragora, dam of Apology, winner of the Oaks and St Leger, whose sire was Adventurer, son of Newminster. She also threw Mineral, who, when mated with Lord Clifden, produced Wenlock, winner of the St Leger, and after being sold to go to Hungary, was there mated with Buccaneer, the produce being Kisber, winner of the Derby.

We append the pedigree of Blair Athol, winner of the Derby and St Leger in 1864, who, when subsequently sold by auction, fetched the then unprecedented sum of 12,000 guineas, as it contains, not only Stockwell (the emperor of stallions, as he has been termed), but Blink Bonny and Eleanor--in which latter animal are combined the blood of Eclipse, Herod, Matchem and Snap,--the mares that won the Derby in 1801 and 1857 respectively, as well as those queens of the stud, Eleanor's great-granddaughter Pocahontas and Blink Bonny's dam Queen Mary. Both Eleanor and Blink Bonny won the Oaks as well as the Derby.

/Whalebone* (1807) /Waxy* (1790) /Sir Hercules< \Penelope (1798) | (1826) \Peri (1823) /Wanderer (1790) /Birdcatcher < \Thalestris (1809) | [++] | /Bob Booty (1804) /Chanticleer (1787) | (1833) |Guiccioli < \Ierne (1790) | \ (1823) \Flight (1809) /Escape (1802) /The Baron[++]< \Young Heroine | (1842) | /Whisker* (1812) /Waxy* (1790) | | /Economist < \Penelope (1798) | | | (1825) \Floranthe (1818) /Octavian (1807) | |Echidna < \Caprice (1797) | \ (1838) | /Blacklock (1814) /Whitelock (1803) | |Miss Pratt < \Coriander mare (1799) | \ (1825) \Gadabout (1812) /Orville[++] (1709) /Stockwell[++]< \Minstrel (1803) |(1849) | /Selim (1802) /Buzzard (1787) | | /Sultan < \Alexander mare (1790) | | | (1816) \Bacchante (1809) /Williamson's Ditto (1800) | | /Glencoe < \Sister to Calomel (1791) | | | (1831) | /Tramp (1810) /Dick Andrews (1797) | | | |Trampoline < \Gohanna mare | | | \ (1825) \Web (1808) /Waxy* (1790) | |Pocahontas < \Penelope (1798) | \ (1837) | /Orville[++] (1799) /Beningbrough (1790) | | /Muley < \Evelina (1791) | | | (1810) \Eleanor*[++] (1798) /Whiskey (1789) | |Marpessa < \Young Giantess (1790) | \ (1830) | /Marmion (1806) /Whiskey (1789) | |Clare < \Young Noisette (1789) | \ (1824) \Harpalice (1814) /Gohanna (1790) Blair | \Amazon (1799) Athol*[++] < /Sorcerer (1796) /Trumpator (1782) (1861) | /Comus < \Young Giantess (1790) | | (1809) \Houghton Lass (1801)/Sir Peter* (1784) | /Humphrey < \Alexina (1788) | | Clinker | /Clinker (1805) /Sir Peter* (1784) | | (1822) |Clinkerina < \Hyale (1797) | | \ (1812) \Pewet (1786) /Tandem (1773) | /Melbourne < \Termagant | | (1834) | /Don Quixote (1784) /Eclipse (1764) | | | /Cervantes < \Grecian Princess (1770) | | | | (1806) \Evelina (1791) /Highflyer (1774) | | |Daughter of < \Termagant | | \ (1825) | /Golumpus (1802) /Gohanna (1790) | | |Daughter of < \Catherine (1795) | | \ (1818) \Daughter of (1810) /Paynator (1791) |Blink Bonny*[+]< \Sister to Zodiac \ (1854) | /Walton (1799) /Sir Peter* (1784) | /Partisan < \Arethusa (1792) | | (1811) \Parasol (1800) /Pot-8-os (1773) | /Gladiator < \Prunella (1788) | | (1833) | /Moses* (1819) /Whalebone* by Waxy* (1807) | | |Pauline < \Gohanna mare | | \ (1826) \Quadrille (1815) /Selim (1802) |Queen Mary < \Canary Bird (1806) \(1843) | /Emilius* (1820) /Orville[++] (1799) | /Plenipote- < \Emily (1810) | | ntiary* \Harriett (1819) /Pericles (1809) |Daughter of < (1831) \Selim mare (1812) \ (1840) | /Whalebone* (1807) /Waxy* (1790) |Myrrha < \Penelope (1798) \ (1830) \Gift (1818) /Young Gohanna (1810) \Sister to Grazier by Sir Peter* (1808)

* Winner of the Derby. + Winner of the Oaks. ++ Winner of the St Leger.

The shape of a race-horse is of considerable importance, although it is said with some degree of truth that they win in all shapes. There are the neat and elegant animals, like the descendants of Saunterer and Sweetmeat; the large-framed, plain-looking, and heavy-headed Melbournes, often with lop ears; the descendants of Birdcatcher, full of quality, and of more than average stature, though sometimes disfigured with curby hocks; and the medium-sized but withal speedy descendants of Touchstone, though in some cases characterized by somewhat loaded shoulders. In height it will be found that the most successful racers average from 15 to 16(1/2) hands, the former being considered somewhat small, while the latter is unquestionably very large; the mean may be taken as between 15(1/2) and 16 hands (the hand = 4 in.). The head should be light and lean, and well set on; the ears small and pricked, but not too short; the eyes full; the forehead broad and flat; the nostrils large and dilating; the muzzle fine; the neck moderate in length, wide, muscular, and yet light; the throat clean; the windpipe spacious and loosely attached to the neck; the crest thin, not coarse and arched. The withers may be moderately high and thin; the chest well developed, but not too wide or deep; the shoulder should lie well on the chest, and be oblique and well covered with muscle, so as to reduce concussion in galloping; the upper and lower arms should be long and muscular; the knees broad and strong; legs short, flat and broad; fetlock joints large; pasterns strong and of moderate length; the feet should be moderately large, with the heels open and frogs sound--with no signs of contraction. The body or barrel should be moderately deep, long and straight, the length being really in the shoulders and in the quarters; the back should be strong and muscular, with the shoulders and loins running well in at each end; the loins themselves should have great breadth and substance, this being a vital necessity for weight-carrying and propelling power uphill. The hips should be long and wide, with the stifle and thigh strong, long and proportionately developed, and the hind quarters well let down. The hock should have plenty of bone, and be strongly affixed to the leg, and show no signs of curb; the bones below the hock should be flat, and free from adhesions; the ligaments and tendons well developed, and standing out from the bone; the joints well formed and wide, yet without undue enlargement; the pasterns and feet similar to those of the forehand. The tail should be high set on, the croup being continued in a straight line to the tail, and not falling away and drooping to a low-set tail. Fine action is the best criterion of everything fitting properly, and all a horse's points ought to harmonize or be in proportion to one another, no one point being more prominent than another, such as good shoulders, fine loins or excellent quarters. If the observer is struck with the remarkable prominence of any one feature, it is probable that the remaining parts are deficient. A well-made horse wants dissecting in detail, and then if a good judge can discover no fault with any part, but finds each of good proportions, and the whole to harmonize without defect, deformity or deficiency, he has before him a well-shaped horse; and of two equally well-made and equitably proportioned horses the best bred one will be the best. As regards hue, the favourite colour of the ancients, according to Xenophon, was bay, and for a long time it was the fashionable colour in England; but for some time chestnut thoroughbreds have been the most conspicuous figure on English race-courses, so far as the more important events are concerned. Eclipse was a chestnut; Castrel, Selim and Rubens were chestnuts; so also were Glencoe and Pantaloon, of whom the latter had black spots on his hind quarters like Eclipse; and also Stockwell and Doncaster. Birdcatcher was a chestnut, so also were Stockwell and his brother Rataplan, Manganese, Mandragora, Thormanby, Kettledrum, St Albans, Blair Athol, Regalia, Formosa, Hermit, Marie Stuart, Doncaster, George Frederick, Apology, Craig Millar, Prince Charlie, Rayon d'Or and Bend Or. The dark browns or black browns, such as the Sweetmeat tribe, are not so common as the bays, and black or grey horses are almost as unusual as roans. The skin and hair of the throughbred are finer, and the veins which underlie the skin are larger and more prominent than in other horses. The mane and tail should be silky and devoid of curl, which is a sign of impurity.

Whether the race-horse of to-day is as good as the stock to which he traces back has often been disputed, chiefly no doubt because he is brought to more early maturity, commencing to win races at two years instead of at five years of age, as in the days of Childers and Eclipse; but the highest authorities, and none more emphatically than the late Admiral Rous, have insisted that he can not only stay quite as long as his ancestors, but also go a good deal faster. In size and shape the modern race-horse is unquestionably superior, being on an average fully a hand higher than the Eastern horses from which he is descended; and in elegance of shape and beauty of outline he has certainly never been surpassed. That experiments, founded on the study of his nature and properties, which have from time to time been made to improve the breed, and bring the different varieties to the perfection in which we now find them, have succeeded, is best confirmed by the high estimation in which the horses of Great Britain are held in all parts of the civilized world; and it is not too much to assert that, although the cold, humid and variable nature of their climate is by no means favourable to the production of these animals in their very best form, Englishmen have by great care, and by sedulous attention to breeding, high feeding and good grooming, with consequent development of muscle, brought them to the highest state of perfection of which their nature is capable. (E. D. B.)

BREEDS OF HORSES

The British breeds of _light_ horses include the Thoroughbred, the Yorkshire Coach-horse, the Cleveland Bay, the Hackney and the Pony; of _heavy_ horses, the Shire, the Clydesdale and the Suffolk.

The _Thoroughbred_ is probably the oldest of the breeds, and it is known as the "blood-horse" on account of the length of time through which its purity of descent can be traced. The frame is light, slender and graceful. The points of chief importance are a fine, clean, lean head, set on free from collar heaviness; a long and strongly muscular neck, shoulders oblique and covered with muscle; high, long withers, chest of good depth and narrow but not extremely so; body round in type; back rib well down; depth at withers a little under half the height; length equal to the height at withers and croup; loins level and muscular; croup long, rather level; tail set on high and carried gracefully; the hind quarters long, strongly developed, and full of muscle and driving power; the limbs clean-cut and sinewy, possessing abundance of good bone, especially desired in the cannons, which are short, broad and flat; comparatively little space between the fore legs; pastern joints smooth and true; pasterns strong, clean and springy, sloping when at rest at an angle of 45 deg.; feet medium size, wide and high at the heels, concave below and set on straight. The action in trotting is generally low, but the bending of the knee and the flexing of the hock is smooth, free and true. The thoroughbred is apt to be nervous and excitable, and impatient of common work, but its speed, resolution and endurance, as tested on the race-course, are beyond praise.

Many of the best hunters in the United Kingdom are thoroughbreds, but of the substantial weight-carrying type. The Hunters Improvement Society, established in 1885, did not restrict entries to the _Hunters' Stud-Book_ to entirely clean-bred animals, but admitted those with breeding enough to pass strict inspection. This society acts in consort with two other powerful organizations (the Royal Commission on Horse-breeding, which began its work in 1888, and the Brood Mare Society, established in 1903), with the desirable object of improving the standard of light horse breeding. The initial efforts began by securing the services of thoroughbred stallions for specified districts, by offering a limited number of "Queen's Premiums," of L200 each, to selected animals of four years old and upwards. Since the formation of the Brood Mare Society mares have come within the sphere of influence of the three bodies, and well-conceived inducements are offered to breeders to retain their young mares at home. The efforts have met with gratifying success, and they were much needed, for while in 1904 the Dutch government took away 350 of the best young Irish mares, Great Britain was paying the foreigner over L2,000,000 a year for horses which the old system of management did not supply at home. The Royal Dublin Society also keeps a _Register of Thoroughbred Stallions_ under the horse-breeding scheme of 1892, which, like the British efforts, is now bearing fruit.

The _Yorkshire Coach-horse_ is extensively bred in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, and the thoroughbred has taken a share in its development. The colour is usually bay, with black or brown points. A fine head, sloping shoulders, strong loins, lengthy quarters, high-stepping action, flat bone and sound feet are characteristic. The height varies from 16 hands to 16 hands 2 in.

The _Cleveland Bay_ is an ancestor of the Yorkshire Coach-horse and is bred in parts of Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. He is adapted alike for the plough, for heavy draught, and for slow saddle work. Some specimens make imposing-looking carriage horses, but they have low action and are lacking in quality. The colour is light or dark bay, with black legs. Though rather coarse-headed, the Cleveland Bay has a well-set shoulder and neck, a deep chest and round barrel. The height is from 16 to 17 hands.

The _Hackney_ has come prominently to the front in recent years. The term _Nag_, applied to the active riding or trotting horse, is derived from the A.S. _hnegan_, to neigh. The Normans brought with them their own word _haquenee_, or _hacquenee_, a French derivative from the Latin _equus_, a horse, whence the name hackney. Both nag and hackney continue to be used as synonymous terms. Frequent mention is made of hackneys and trotters in old farm accounts of the 14th century. The first noteworthy trotting hackney stallion, of the modern type, was a horse foaled about 1755, and known as the Schales, Shields or Shales horse, and most of the recognized hackneys of to-day trace back to him. The breeding of hackneys is extensively pursued in the counties of Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln and York, and in the showyard competitions a keen but friendly rivalry is usually to be noticed between the hackney-breeding farmers of Norfolk and Yorkshire. The high hackney action is uncomfortable in a riding horse. Excellent results have sometimes followed the use of hackney sires upon half-bred mares, i.e. by thoroughbred stallions and trotting mares, but it is not always so. As regards the movement, or "action," of the hackney, he should go light in hand, and the knee should be well elevated and advanced during the trot, and, before the foot is put down, the leg should be well extended. The hackney should also possess good hock action, as distinguished from mere fetlock action, the propelling power depending upon the efficiency of the former. The hackney type of the day is "a powerfully built, short-legged, big horse, with an intelligent head, neat neck, strong, level back, powerful loins, and as perfect shoulders as can be obtained, good feet, flat-boned legs, and a height of from 15 hands 2 in. to 15 hands 3(1/2) in." Carriage-horses hackney-bred have been produced over 17 hands high.

The _Pony_ differs essentially from the hackney in height, the former not exceeding 14 hands. There is one exception, which is made clear in the following extract from Sir Walter Gilbey's _Ponies Past and Present_ (1900):--

Before the establishment of the Hackney Horse Society in 1883 the dividing line between the horse and the pony in England was vague and undefined. It was then found necessary to distinguish clearly between horses and ponies, and, accordingly, all animals measuring 14 hands or under were designated "ponies," and registered in a separate part of the (Hackney) Stud-Book. This record of height, with other particulars as to breeding, &c., serves to direct breeders in their choice of sires and dams. The standard of height established by the Hackney Horse Society was accepted and officially recognized by the Royal Agricultural Society in 1889, when the prize-list for the Windsor show contained pony classes for animals not exceeding 14 hands. The altered polo-rule, which fixes the limit of height at 14 hands 2 in., may be productive of some little confusion; but for all other purposes 14 hands is the recognized _maximum_ height of a pony. Prior to 1883 small horses were called indifferently Galloways, hobbies, cobs or ponies, irrespective of their height.

Native ponies include those variously known as Welsh, New Forest, Exmoor, Dartmoor, Cumberland and Westmorland, Fell, Highland, Highland Garron, Celtic, Shetland and Connemara. Ponies range in height from 14 hands down to 8 hands, Shetland ponies eligible for the Stud-Book not exceeding the latter. As in the case of the hackney, so with the pony, thoroughbred blood has been used, and with good results, except in the case of those animals which have to remain to breed in their native haunts on the hills and moorlands. There the only possible way of improvement is by selecting the best native specimens, especially the sires, to breed from. The thin-skinned progeny of thoroughbred or Arab stock is too delicate to live unless when hand-fed--and hand-feeding is not according to custom. Excellent polo ponies are bred as first or second crosses by thoroughbred stallions on the mares of nearly all the varieties of ponies named. The defective formation of the pony, the perpendicular shoulder and the drooping hind quarters, are modified; but neither the latter, nor bent hocks, which place the hind legs under the body as in the zebra, are objected to, as the conformation is favourable to rapid turning. One object of the pony breeder, while maintaining hardiness of constitution, is to control size--to compress the most valuable qualities into small compass. He endeavours to breed an animal possessing a small head, good shoulders, true action and perfect manners. A combination of the best points of the hunter with the style and finish of the hackney produces a class of weight-carrying pony which is always saleable.

The _Shire_ horse owes its happily-chosen name to Arthur Young's remarks, in the description of his agricultural tours during the closing years of the 18th century, concerning the large Old English Black Horse, "the produce principally of the _Shire_ counties in the heart of England." Long previous to this, however, the word Shire, in connexion with horses, was used in the statutes of Henry VIII. Under the various names of the War Horse, the Great Horse, the Old English Black Horse and the Shire Horse, the breed has for centuries been cultivated in the rich fen-lands of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and in many counties to the west. The Shire is the largest of draught horses, the stallion commonly attaining a height of 17 to 17.3 hands. Though the black colour is still frequently met with, bay and brown are more usually seen. With their immense size and weight--1800 lb. to 2200 lb.--the Shires combine great strength, and they are withal docile and intelligent. They stand on short stout legs, with a plentiful covering--sometimes too abundant--of long hair extending chiefly down the back but also round the front of the limbs from knees and hocks, and when in full feather obscuring nearly the whole of the hoofs. The head is a good size, and broad between the eyes; the neck fairly long, with the crest well arched on to the shoulders, which are deep and strong, and moderately oblique. The chest is wide, full and deep, the back short and straight, the ribs are round and deep, the hind quarters long, level and well let down into the muscular thighs. The cannon-bones should be flat, heavy and clean, and the feet wide, tough, and prominent at the heels. A good type of Shire horse combines symmetrical outlines and bold, free action. There is a good and remunerative demand for Shire geldings for use as draught horses in towns.

The _Clydesdale_, the Scottish breed named from the valley of the Clyde, is not quite so large as the Shire, the average height of stallions being about 16 hands 2 in. The popular colour is bay, particularly if of a dark shade, or dappled. Black is not uncommon, but grey is not encouraged. White markings on one or more of the legs, with a white star or stripe on the face, are characteristic. The long hair on the legs is not so abundant as in the Shires, and it is finer in texture. It is regarded as an indication of good bone. The bones of the legs should be short, flat, clean and hard; the feet large, with hoofs deep and concave below. With its symmetry, activity, strength and endurance the Clydesdale is easily broken to harness, and makes an excellent draught horse. This breed is growing rapidly in favour in Canada, but in the United States the _Percheron_, with its round bone and short pasterns, holds the field. A blend of the Shire and Clydesdale strains of the British rough-legged draught horse (virtually sections of the same breed) is a better animal than either of the parents. It is an improvement upon the Shire due to the quality contributed by the Clydesdale, and it surpasses the Clydesdale in strength and substance, as a result of the Shire connexion. To secure success the two Stud-Books will require to be opened to animals eligible to be entered in either record. The blend is being established in U.S.A. as a National breed.

The _Suffolk_ is a horse quite distinct from the Shire and the Clydesdale. Its body looks too heavy for its limbs, which are free from the "feather" so much admired in the two other heavy breeds; it possesses a characteristic chestnut colour. How long the Suffolks have been associated with the county after which they are named is unknown, but they are mentioned in 1586 in Camden's _Britannia_. With an average height of about 16 hands they often have a weight of as much as 2000 lb., and this may explain the appearance which has given rise to the name of the Suffolk Punch, by which the breed is known. The Suffolk is a resolute and unwearying worker, and is richly endowed with many of the best qualities of a horse. The _Suffolk Stud-Book and History of the Breed_, published in 1880, is the most exhaustive record of its kind in England. (W. Fr.; R. W.)

MANAGEMENT

_Breeding._--Animals to breed from should be of good blood, sound and compactly built, with good pluck and free from nervous excitability and vicious tendency. A mare used to be put to the horse at three years old, but latterly two has become the common age. Young sires begin to serve in moderation at two. May is considered the best month for a mare to foal, as there is abundance of natural food and the weather is mild enough for the mare to lie out. Show specimens generally profit by being born earlier. The period of gestation in the mare is about eleven months. No nursing mare should go to work, if this can possibly be avoided. A brood mare requires plenty of exercise at a slow pace and may work, except between shafts or on a road, till the day of foaling.

To avoid colic an animal has to be gradually prepared by giving small quantities of green food for a few days before going to grass. Shelter against severe storms is needed. Succulent food encourages the flow of milk, and the success of the foal greatly depends on its milk supply. Mares most readily conceive when served at the "foal heat" eleven days after foaling. A mature stallion can serve from eighty to one hundred mares per annum.

Foals are weaned when five or six months old, often in October, and require to be housed to save the foal-flesh, and liberally but not overfed; but from the time they are a month old they require to be "gentled" by handling and kindly treatment, and the elementary training of leading from time to time by a halter adjusted permanently to the head. When they are hand-reared on cow's milk foals require firm treatment and must have no fooling to teach them tricks. Young horses that are too highly fed are apt to become weak-limbed and top-heavy.

_Breaking._--Systematic breaking begins at about the age of two years, and the method of subduing a colt by "galvayning" is as good as any. It is a more humane system than "rareying," which overcame by exhaustion under circumstances which were not fruitful of permanent results. Galvayning is accomplished by bending the horse's neck round at an angle of thirty-five to forty degrees and tieing the halter to the tail, so that when he attempts to walk forward he holds himself and turns "round and round, almost upon his own ground." The more strenuous his resistance the sooner he yields to the inevitable force applied by himself. A wooden pole, the "third hand," is then gently applied to all parts of the body until kicking or any form of resistance ceases. "Bitting" or "mouthing," or the familiarizing of an animal to the bit in his mouth, and to answer to the rein without bending his neck, is still a necessity with the galvayning method of breaking. Experience can only be gained by a horse continuing during a considerable time to practise what he has been taught.

Three main characteristics of a successful horse-breaker are firmness, good temper and incessant vigilance. Carelessness in trusting too much to a young colt that begins its training by being docile is a fruitful source of untrustworthy habits which need never have developed. Driving with long reins in the field should precede the fastening of ropes to the collar, as it accustoms the animal to the pressure on the shoulders of the draught, later to be experienced in the yoke. If a young horse be well handled and accustomed to the dummy jockey, mounting it is not attended with much risk of resistance, although this should invariably be anticipated. An animal ought to be in good condition when being broken in, else it is liable to break out in unpleasant ways when it becomes high-spirited as a result of improved condition. It should be well but not overfed, and while young not overworked, as an overtired animal is liable to refuse to pull, and thus contract a bad habit. Most bad habits and stable tricks are the result of defective management and avoidable accidents.

_Feeding._--Horses have small stomachs relatively to ruminating animals, and require small quantities of food frequently. While grazing they feed almost continually, preferring short pasture. No stable food for quick work surpasses a superior sample of fine-hulled whole oats like "Garton's Abundance" (120 lb. per week), and Timothy hay harvested in dry weather. The unbruised oats develop a spirit and courage in either a saddle or harness horse that no other food can. A double handful of clean chaff, or of bran mixed with the oats in the manger, prevents a greedy horse from swallowing a considerable proportion whole. Unchewed oats pass out in the faeces uninjured, so that they are capable of germination, and are of less than no value to a horse. Horses doing slow or other than "upper ten" work may have oats crushed, not ground, and a variety of additions made to the oats which are usually the basis of the feed--for example, a few old crushed beans, a little linseed meal, ground linseed cake or about a wine-glassful of unboiled linseed oil. Indian pulses are to be avoided on account of the danger of Lathyrus poisoning. A seasoning of ground fenugreek or spice is sometimes given to shy feeders to encourage them to eat. A little sugar or molascuit added to the food will sometimes serve the same purpose. Newly crushed barley or cracked maize, even in considerable proportion to the rest of the food, gives good results with draught, coach, 'bus and light harness horses generally. Boiled food of any kind is unnatural to a horse, and is risky to give, being liable to produce colic, especially if the animal bolts its food when hungry, although it generally produces a glossy coat. Too much linseed, often used in preparing horses for market, gives a similar appearance, but is liable to induce fatty degeneration of the liver; given in moderation it regulates the bowels and stimulates the more perfect digestion of other foods. In England red-clover hay, or, better still, crimson-clover or lucerne hay, is liberally fed to farm horses with about 10 lb. per day of oats, while they usually run in open yards with shelter sheds. Bean straw is sometimes given as part of the roughage in Scotland, but not in England. In England hunters and carriage horses are generally fed on natural hay, in Scotland on Timothy, largely imported from Canada, or ryegrass hay that has not been grown with nitrate of soda. Heavily nitrated hay is reputed to produce excessive urination and irritation of the bladder. Pease straw, if not sandy, and good bright oat straw are good fodder for horses; but with barley and wheat straw, in the case of a horse, more energy is consumed during its passage through the alimentary canal than the digested straw yields. Three or four Swedish turnips or an equivalent of carrots is an excellent cooling food for a horse at hard work. The greater number of horses in the country should have green forage given them during summer, when the work they do will permit of it, as it is their natural food, and they thrive better on it than on any dry food.

When a horse has been overstrained by work the best remedy is a long rest at pasture, and, if it be lame or weak in the limbs, the winter season is most conducive to recovery. The horse becomes low in condition and moves about quietly, and the frost tends to brace up the limbs. In autumn all horses that have been grazing should be dosed with some vermifuge to destroy the worms that are invariably present, and thus prevent colic or an unthrifty or anaemic state. On a long journey a horse should have occasional short drinks, and near the end a long drink with a slower rate of progression with the object of cooling off. In the stable a horse should always be provided with rock salt, and water to drink at will by means of some such stall fixture as the Mundt hygienic water-supply fittings. Overhead hay-racks are unnatural and are liable to drop seeds into a horse's eye.

LITERATURE.--For riding, &c. see RIDING, DRIVING, HORSEMANSHIP, and HORSE-RACING. For diseases of the horse see VETERINARY SCIENCE. The literature about the horse and its history and uses is voluminous, and is collected up to 1887 in Huth's _Works on Horses, &c._, a bibliographical record of hippology. See also, besides the works already mentioned, various books by Capt. M. Horace Hayes, _Points of the Horse_ (1893, 2nd ed., 1897); _Stable Management and Exercise_ (1900); _Illustrated Horse-breaking_ (1889, 2nd ed., 1896); and _The Horsewoman_ (1893) (with Mrs Hayes); E. L. Anderson, _Modern Horsemanship_ (1884); W. Day, _The Horse: How to Breed and Rear Him_ (1888); W. Ridgeway, _Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse_ (1905); Major-General Tweedie, _The Arab Horse_ (1894); J. Wortley Axe, _The Horse; its Treatment in Health and Disease_ (1906); R. Wallace, _Farm Live Stock of Great Britain_ (1885, 4th ed., 1907); Sydney Galvayne, _The Twentieth Century Book of the Horse_ (1905); C. Bruce Low, _Breeding Racehorses by the Figure System_ (1895); J. H. Wallace, _The Horse of America in his Derivation, &c._ (1897); Weatherly's _Celebrated Racehorses_ (1887); Ruff's _Guide to the Turf_; T. A. Cook, _History of the English Turf_ (1903); _The General Stud-Book_ (issued quinquennially); and the _Stud-Books_ of the various breed societies. (R. W.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Compare Sans, _acva_, Zendish and Old Persian _acpa_, Lithuanian _aszva_ (mare), Prussian _asvinan_ (mare's milk), O.H. Ger. _ehu_, A.S. _eoh_, Icel. _ior_, Gothic _aihos_, _aihous_ (?), Old Irish _ech_, Old Cambrian and Gaelic _ep_ (as in _Epona_, the horse goddess), Lat. _equus_, Gr. [Greek: hippos] or [Greek: ikkos]. The word seems, however, to have disappeared from the Slavonic languages. The root is probably _ak_, with the idea of sharpness or swiftness ([Greek: akros, okus], _acus_, _ocior_). See Pott, _Etym. Forsch_, ii. 256, and Hehn, _Kulturpflanzen u. Hausthiere in ihrem Ueber gang aus Asien nach Griechenland u. Italien sowie in das ubrige Europa_ (3rd ed., 1877), p. 38. The last-named author, who points out the absence of the horse from the Egyptian monuments prior to the beginning of the 18th century B.C., and the fact that the earliest references to this animal in Hebrew literature (Judges v. 22, 28; cf. Josh, xi. 4) do not carry us any farther back, is of opinion that the Semitic peoples as a whole were indebted for the horse to the lands of Iran. He also shows that literature affords no trace of the horse as indigenous to Arabia prior to about the beginning of the 5th century A.D., although references abound in the pre-Islamitic poetry. Horses were not numerous even in Mahomet's time (Sprenger, _Leb. Moh._ iii. 139, 140). Compare Ignazio Guidi's paper "Della sede primitiva dei popoli Semitici" in the _Transactions_ of the Accademia dei Lincei (1878-1879), Professor W. Ridgeway, in his _Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse_ (1905), reinvestigated the historical mystery as to the Arab breed, and its connexion with the English thoroughbred stock, but his conclusions have been hotly controverted; archaeology and biology are in fact still in the dark on the subject, but see the section on "Species" above. According to Ridgeway, the original source of the finest equine blood is Africa, still the home of the largest variety of wild Equidae; he concludes that thence it passed into Europe at an early time, to be blended with that of the indigenous Celtic species, and thence into western Asia into the veins of an indigenous Mongolian species, still represented by "Przewalski's horse"; not till a comparatively late period did it reach Arabia, though the "Arab" now represents the purest form of the Libyan blood. The controversy depends upon the consideration of a wealth of detail, which should be studied in Ridgeway's book; but zoological authorities are sceptical as to the suggested species, _Equus caballus libycus_.

[2] Some fragments of legislation relating to the horse about this period may be gleaned from _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_ (fol., London, 1840), and _Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales_ (fol., London, 1841).

HORSE LATITUDES, the belts of calms and variable breezes at the polar edge of the N.E. and S.E. trades. According to the _New English Dictionary_ two explanations have been given of the origin of the name: one that the calm kills horses on a sailing ship, the other that the name signifies the unruly and boisterous nature of these winds compared with the pleasant trades. The name is commonly applied to the permanent belt of high atmospheric pressure which encircles the globe in 30 deg. to 35 deg. from the equator.

HORSE-MACKEREL, the name applied to a genus of fishes (_Caranx_) found in abundance in almost all temperate and especially in tropical seas. The designation "cavalli," given to them by the early Portuguese navigators, and often met with in the accounts of the adventures of the buccaneers, is still in frequent use among the sailors of all nations. Some ninety different kinds are known--the majority being wholesome food, and some of the species attaining a length of 3 ft. and more. The fish to which the name horse-mackerel is applied in Great Britain is _Caranx trachurus_, distinguished by having the lateral line in its whole length armed with large but narrow bony plates. Horse-mackerel are found singly on the coast all the year round, but sometimes they congregate in shoals of many thousands. Although well-flavoured, they are much more frequently used for bait than for food. This species has a most extraordinary range, being found almost everywhere within the temperate and tropical zones of the northern and southern hemispheres.

HORSEMANSHIP, the art of managing the horse from his back and controlling his paces and the direction and speed of his movement. The ordinary procedure is dealt with in the articles on RIDING and cognate subjects (see also HORSE: section _Management_). A special kind of skill is, however, needed in breaking, training, bitting and schooling horses for a game like polo, or for the evolutions of what is known as the _haute ecole_. It is with the latter, or "school" riding, that we deal here. The middle ages had seen chivalry developed into a social distinction, and horsemanship into a form of knightly prowess. The Renaissance introduced the cultivation of horsemanship as an art, with regular conditions and rules, instead of merely its skilful practice for utility and exercise. In Italy in the 16th century schools of horsemanship were established at Naples, Rome and other chief cities; thither flocked the nobility of France, Spain and Germany; and Henry VIII. of England and other monarchs of his time had Italians for their masters of the horse. The academy of Pignatelli at Naples was the most famous of the schools in the middle of the 16th century, but a score of other less renowned masters devoted themselves to teaching the riders and training the horses. Trappings of all sorts multiplied; the prescribed tricks, feats and postures involved considerable dexterity; they were fatiguing to both man and beast, and were really useless except for show. This elaborate art, enthusiastically followed among the Romance nations, was the parent of later developments of the _haute ecole_, and of the circus-performances of modern days. In England, however, the continental style did not find favour for long. The duke of Newcastle's _Methode nouvelle de dresser les chevaux_ (1648) was the leading text-book of the day, and in 1761 the earl of Pembroke published his _Manual of Cavalry Horsemanship_. In France a simplification was introduced in the early part of the 18th century by La Gueriniere (_Ecole de cavalerie_) and others. The French military school thus became the model for Europe, though the English style remained in opposition, forming a sort of compromise with the ordinary method of riding across country. In more modern times France again came to the front in regard to the _haute ecole_, through the innovations of the vicomte d'Aure (1798-1863) and Francois Baucher (1796-1873). Baucher was a circus-rider who became the greatest master of his art, and who had an elaborate theory of the principles involved in training a horse. His system was carried on, with modifications, by masters and theorists like Captain Raabe, M. Barroil and M. Fillis. In more recent times the style of the _haute ecole_ has also been cultivated by various masters in the United States, such as H. L. de Bussigny at Boston.

See d'Aure, _Traite d'equitation_ (1847); Hundersdorf, _Equitation allemande_ (Bruxelles, 1843); Baucher, _Passe-temps equestres_ (1840), _Methode d'equitation_ (1867); Raabe, _Methode de haute ecole d'equitation_ (1863); Barroil, _Art equestre_; Fillis, _Principes de dressage_; Hayes, _Riding on the flat, &c._ (1882).

HORSENS, a market town of Denmark, at the head of Horsens Fjord, on the east side of Jutland, 32 m. by rail S.W. of Aarhus, in the _amt_ (county) of that name. Pop. (1901) 22,243. It is the junction of branch railways to Bryrup and to Torring inland, and to Juelsminde on the coast. The exports are chiefly bacon and butter; the imports, iron, yarn, coal and timber. The town is ancient; there is a disused convent church with tombs of the 17th century, and the Vor-Frelsers-Kirke has a carved pulpit of the same period. Horsens is the birthplace of the navigator Vitus Bering or Behring (1680), the Arctic explorer. To the north lies the picturesque lake district between Skanderborg and Silkeborg (see AARHUS).

HORSE-POWER. The device, frequently seen in farmyards, by which the power of a horse is utilized to drive threshing or other machinery, is sometimes described as a "horse-power," but this term usually denotes the unit in which the performance of steam and other engines is expressed, and which is defined as the rate at which work is done when 33,000 lb. are raised one foot in one minute. This value was adopted by James Watt as the result of experiments with strong dray-horses, but, as he was aware, it is in excess of what can be done by an average horse over a full day's work. It is equal to 746 watts. On the metric system it is reckoned as 4500 kilogram-metres a minute, and the French _cheval-vapeur_ is thus equal to 32,549 foot-pounds a minute, or 0.9863 of an English horse-power, or 736 watts. The "nominal horse-power" by which engines are sometimes rated is an arbitrary and obsolescent term of indefinite significance. An ordinary formula for obtaining it is (1/15.6)D^2 [root 3]S for high-pressure engines, and (1/47)D^2 [root 3]S for condensing engines, where D is the diameter of the piston in inches and S the length of the stroke in feet, though varying numbers are used for the divisor. The "indicated horse-power" of a reciprocating engine is given by ASPN/33,000, where A is the area of the piston in square inches, S the length of the stroke in feet, P the mean pressure on the piston in lb. per sq. in., and N the number of effective strokes per minute, namely, one for each revolution of the crank shaft if the engine is single-acting, but twice as many if it is double-acting. The mean pressure P is ascertained from the diagram or "card" given by an indicator (see STEAM-ENGINE). In turbine engines this method is inapplicable. A statement of indicated horse-power supplies a measure of the force acting in the cylinder of an engine, but the power available for doing external work off the crank-shaft is less than this by the amount absorbed in driving the engine itself. The useful residue, known as the "actual," "effective" or "brake" horse-power, can be directly measured by a dynamometer (q.v.); it amounts to about 80% of the indicated horse-power for good condensing engines and about 85% for non-condensing engines, or perhaps a little more when the engines are of the largest sizes. When turbines, as often happens in land practice, are directly coupled to electrical generators, their horse-power can be deduced from the electrical output. When they are used for the propulsion of ships recourse is had to "torsion meters" which measure the amount of twist undergone by the propeller shafts while transmitting power. Two points are selected on the surface of the shaft at different positions along it, and the relative displacement which occurs between them round the shaft when power is being transmitted is determined either by electrical means, as in the Denny-Johnson torsion-meter, or optically, as in the Hopkinson-Thring and Bevis-Gibson instruments. The twist or surface-shear being proportional to the torque, the horse-power can be calculated if the modulus of rigidity of the steel employed is known or if the amount of twist corresponding to a given power has previously been ascertained by direct experiment on the shaft before it has been put in place.

HORSE-RACING. Probably the earliest instance of the use of horses in racing recorded in literature occurs in _Il._ xxiii. 212-650, where the various incidents of the chariot-race at the funeral games held in honour of Patroclus are detailed with much vividness. According to the ancient authorities the four-horse chariot-race was introduced into the Olympic games as early as the 23rd Olympiad; to this the race with mounted horses was added in the 33rd; while other variations (such as two-horse chariot-races, mule races, loose-horse races, special races for under-aged horses) were admitted at a still later period. Of the training and management of the Olympic race-horse we are left in ignorance; but it is known that the equestrian candidates were required to enter their names and send their horses to Elis at least thirty days before the celebration of the games commenced, and that the charioteers and riders, whether owners or proxies, went through a prescribed course of exercise during the intervening month. At all the other national games of Greece (Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean), as well as at many of the local festivals (the Athenian Olympia and Panathenaea), similar contests had a prominent place. Some indication of the extent to which the passion for horse-racing was indulged in at Athens, for example, about the time of Aristophanes may be obtained from the scene with which _The Clouds_ opens; while it is a significant fact that the Boeotians termed one of the months of their year, corresponding to the Athenian Hecatombaeon, Hippodromius ("Horse-race month"; see Plutarch, _Cam._ 15). For the chariot-races and horse-races of the Greeks and Romans, see CIRCUS and GAMES.

GREAT BRITAIN

There is no direct historical evidence to show that the ancient Britons addicted themselves to any form of this amusement; but there are indications that among some at least of the Germanic tribes, from a very early period, horse-racing was an accompaniment of their religious cultus. There can be no doubt that the Romans encouraged the pursuit in Britain, if they did not introduce it; traces of race-courses belonging to the period of their occupation have been frequently discovered. The influence of the Christian Church was everywhere at first strongly against the practice. The opinion of Augustine and other fathers of the church with regard to attendance at the spectacles, whether of theatre or of circus, is well known; those who performed in them were rigidly excluded from church fellowship, and sometimes even those who merely frequented them. Thus the first council of Arles, in its fourth canon, declared that those members of the church who drove chariots at the public games should, so long as they continued in that employment, be denied communion. (Compare the rule in the _Ap. Const._ viii. 32; ap. Bingham. _Ant. Chr. Church_, xvi. 4, 10.) In many cases, however, the weight of ecclesiastical authority proved insufficient to cope with the force of old custom, or with the fascination of a sport the unchristian character of which was not very easily demonstrable; and ultimately in Germany and elsewhere the old local races appear to have been admitted to a recognized place among the ceremonies peculiar to certain Christian festivals.

The first distinct indication which contemporary history affords of horse-racing as a sport occurs in the _Description of the City of London_ of William Fitzstephen (c. 1174). He says that in a certain "plane field without one of the gates (quidam planus campus re et nomine--_Smithfield_, quasi Smoothfield) every Friday, unless it be one of the more solemn festivals, is a noted show of well-bred (_nobilium_) horses exposed for sale. The earls, barons and knights who are resident in the city, as well as a multitude of citizens, flock thither either to look on or buy." After describing the different varieties of horses brought into the market, especially the more valuable chargers (_dextrarios preciosos_), he says: "When a race is to be run by such horses as these, and perhaps by others which, in like manner, according to their breed are strong for carriage and vigorous for the course, the people raise a shout and order the common horses to be withdrawn to another part of the field. The jockeys, who are boys expert in the management of horses, which they regulate by means of curb bridles, sometimes by threes and sometimes by twos, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest. Their chief aim is to prevent a competitor from getting before them. The horses too, after their manner, are eager for the race: their limbs tremble, and impatient of delay they cannot stand still; upon the signal being given they stretch out their limbs, hurry on the course, and are borne along with unremitting speed. The riders, inspired with the love of praise and the hope of victory, clap spurs to their flying horses, lashing them with whips, and inciting them by their shouts" (see Stow's Translation).

In the reign of Richard I. knights rode at Whitsuntide on steeds and palfreys over a three-mile course for "forty pounds of ready gold," according to the old romance of Sir Bevys of Hampton. The feats of the tilt-yard, however, seem to have surpassed horse-racing in popular estimation at the period of the crusades. That the sport was to some extent indulged in by King John is quite possible, as running horses are frequently mentioned in the register of royal expenditure; and we know that Edward III. had a number of running horses, but it is probable they were chiefly used for field sports.

An evidence of the growing favour in which horse-racing was held as a popular amusement is furnished by the fact that public races were established at Chester in 1512. Randle Holme of that city tells us that towards the latter part of Henry VIII.'s reign, on Shrove Tuesday, the company of saddlers of Chester presented to "the drapers a wooden ball embellished with flowers, and placed upon the point of a lance. This ceremony was performed in the presence of the mayor at the cross of the Roody or Roodee, an open place near the city; but this year (1540) the ball was changed into a silver bell, valued at three shillings and sixpence or more, to be given to him who shall run best and furthest on horseback before them on the same day, Shrove Tuesday; these bells were denominated St George's bells." In the reign of Elizabeth there is evidence from the poems of Bishop Hall (1597) that racing was in vogue, though apparently not patronized by the queen, or it would no doubt have formed part of the pastimes at Kenilworth; indeed, it seems then to have gone much out of fashion.

The accession of the Stuarts opened up an era of prosperity for the sport, for James I., who, according to Youatt, had encouraged if not established horse-racing in Scotland, greatly patronized it in England when he came to the throne. Not only did he run races at Croydon and Enfield, but he endeavoured to improve the breed of horses by the purchase for a high figure of the Arab stallion known as Markham's Arabian, which little horse, however, was beaten in every race he ran.

In 1607, according to Camden's _Britannia_, races were run near York, the prize being a little golden bell. Camden also mentions as the prize for running horses in Gatherley Forest a little golden ball, which was apparently anterior to the bell. In 1609 Mr Robert Ambrye, sometime sheriff of the city of Chester, caused three silver bells to be made of good value, which bells he appointed to be run for with horses on St George's day upon the Roodee, the first horse to have the best bell and the money put in by the horses that ran--in other words, a sweepstake--the bells to be returned that day twelvemonth as challenge cups are now; towards the expenses he had an allowance from the city. In 1613 subscription purses are first mentioned. Nicholls, in his _Progress of James I._, makes mention of racing in the years 1617 and 1619. Challenge bells appear to have continued to be the prizes at Chester, according to Randle Holme the younger, and Ormerod's _History of Chester_, until 1623 or 1624, when Mr John Brereton, mayor of Chester, altered the course and caused the horses to run five times round the Roodee, the bell to be of good value, L8 or L10, and to be a free bell to be held for ever--in other words, a presentation and not a challenge prize.

During James's reign public race meetings were established at Gatherley or Garterley, near Richmond in Yorkshire, at Croydon in Surrey, and at Enfield Chase, the last two being patronized by the king, who not only had races at Epsom during his residence at Nonsuch, but also built a house at Newmarket for the purpose of enjoying hunting, and no doubt racing too, as we find a note of there having been horse-races at this place as early as 1605. Races are also recorded as having taken place at Linton near Cambridge, but they were probably merely casual meetings. The prizes were for the most part silver or gold bells, whence the phrase "bearing away the bell." The turf indeed appears to have attracted a great deal of notice, and the systematic preparation of running horses was studied, attention being paid to their feeding and training, to the instruction of jockeys--although private matches between gentlemen who rode their own horses were very common,--and to the adjustment of weights, which were usually about 10 stone. The sport also seems to have taken firm hold of the people, and to have become very popular.

The reign of Charles I., which commenced in 1625, saw still more marked strides made, for the king not only patronized the racing at Newmarket, which we know was current In 1640, but thoroughly established it there, and built a stand house in 1667, since which year the races have been annual. Mention is likewise made in the comedy of the _Merry Beggars_, played in 1641, of races, both horse and foot, in Hyde Park, which were patronized by Charles I., who gave a silver cup, value 100 guineas, to be run for instead of bells. Butcher, in his survey of the town of Stamford (1646), also says that a race was annually run in that town for a silver and gilt cup and cover, of the value of L7 or L8, provided by the care of the aldermen for the time being out of the interest of a stock formerly made by the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood.

In 1648 Clarendon tells us that a meeting of Royalists was held at Banstead Downs, as Epsom Downs were then called, "under the pretence of a horse-race," so that horse-racing at Epsom was not unknown early in the 17th century; Pepys, too, in his _Diary_ of 1663, mentions his having intended to go to Banstead Downs to see a famous horse-race. Cromwell is said to have kept running horses in the year 1653, but in 1654 he appears to have gone so far as to forbid racing for six and eight months respectively. After the Reformation in 1660, a new impetus was given to horse-racing, which had languished during the civil wars, and the races at Newmarket, which had been suspended, were restored and attended by the king; and as an additional spur to emulation, according to Youatt, royal plates were given at each of the principal courses, and royal mares, as they were called, were imported from abroad. Charles II. rebuilt the house originally erected at Newmarket by James I., which had fallen into decay. The Round course was made in 1666, and racing at the headquarters of the turf was regulated in the most systematic way, as to the course, weights and other conditions. Charles II. was the first monarch who entered and ran horses in his own name; and, besides being a frequent visitor at the races on Newmarket Heath, and on Burford Downs, near Stockbridge, where the Bibury Club meeting was held, he established races at Datchet. In the reign of James II. nothing specially noteworthy occurred, but William III. continued former crown donations and even added to them.

Anne was much devoted to horse-racing, and not only gave royal plates to be competed for, but ran horses for them in her own name. In 1703 Doncaster races were established, when 4 guineas a year were voted by the corporation towards a plate, and in 1716 the Town Plate was established by the same authority to be run on Doncaster Moor. Nearly a century, however, elapsed before the St Leger was instituted. Matches at Newmarket had become common, for we find that Basto, one of the earliest race-horses of whom we have any authentic account, won several matches there in 1708 and 1709. In the latter year, according to Camden, York races were established, the course at first being on Clifton Ings, but it was subsequently removed to Knavesmire, on which the races are now run. In 1710 the first gold cup said to have been given by the queen, of 60 guineas value, was run for by six-year-old horses carrying 12 stone each, the best of three 4-mile heats, and was won by Bay Bolton. In 1711 it was increased to 100 guineas. In 1712 Queen Anne's gelding Pepper ran for the Royal Cup of L100 at York, and her Mustard, a nutmeg-grey horse, ran for the same prize in 1713. Again in 1714 her Majesty's bay horse Star won a sweepstake of 10 guineas added to a plate of L40 at the same place, in four heats, carrying 11 stone. In 1716 the Ladies' Plate at York for five-year-olds was won by Aleppo, son of the Darley Arabian. Racing and match-making continued to be a regular sport at Newmarket, and at York and Hambleton, and we also find a record of a race at Lincoln in August 1717 for a silver tea-board, won by Brocklesby Betty, as was the Queen's Plate at Black Hambleton in the year before.

Between 1714 and 1720 there were races at Pontefract in Yorkshire for plates or money. The best of two out of three heats was to be the winner, provided the said horse was not distanced in the third heat--the distance post being 1 furlong from the winning post; and this appears to have been a usual condition. In or about the year 1721 Flying Childers is said to have run a trial against Almanzor and Brown Betty over the Round course at Newmarket (3 m. 4 f. 93 y.) in 6 m. 40 s., and another trial over the Beacon course (4 m. 1 f. 138 y.) in 7 m. 30 s.--which is fast even for a six-year old; but it is just possible that in those days the art of time-taking was anything but perfect. In 1721 George I. gave 100 guineas in specie in lieu of the gold cup at York presented by Anne, and the king's or queen's plates have been given in cash ever since. In 1725 a ladies' plate was run for on the 14th of September by female riders on Ripon Heath in Yorkshire. In 1727 Mr John Cheney established the _Racing Calendar_--an historical list of all the horse matches run, and of all plates and prizes run for in England and Wales of the value of L10 or upwards in 1727, &c. No systematic records had till then been preserved of the running of the race-horses of the day, and it is only through the performances of certain celebrated horses and mares that we have any information of what actually took place, and even that is more or less of a fragmentary kind. At this time racing was thoroughly established as a national and popular sport, for there were upwards of a hundred meetings in England and Wales; but the plates or sweepstakes run for were for the most part of small value, as L10, L20, L30, L40, and sometimes L50. In 1727, according to Whyte, there were only a dozen royal plates run for in England: one at Newmarket in April for six-year-old horses at 12 stone each, in heats over the Round course--first called the King's Plate course; one for five-year-old mares at 10 stone each, in one heat, and another in October for six-year-old horses at 12 stone, in heats over the same course; one at York (which commenced in 1711) for six-year-old horses, 12 stone each, 4-m. heats; one at Black Hambleton, Yorkshire (of which no regular account was kept until 1715), for five-year-old mares, 10 stone, 4 m.; one at each of the following places, Nottingham, Lincoln, Guildford, Winchester, Salisbury and Lewes, for six-year-old horses, 12 stone each, 4-m. heats; and one at Ipswich for five-year-old horses, 10 stone each. A royal plate was also run for at Edinburgh in 1728 or 1729, and one at the Curragh of Kildare in 1741.

In 1739 an act was passed to prevent racing by ponies and weak horses, 13 Geo. II. cap. 10, which also prohibited prizes or plates of less value than L50. At this period the best horses seldom ran more than five or six times, and some not so often, there being scarcely any plates of note except royal ones, and very few sweepstakes or matches of value except at Newmarket until after 1750; moreover, as the races were run in heats, best three out of four, over a course of several miles in length, the task set the horses before winning a plate was very severe, and by no means commensurate with the value of the prize. In 1751 the great subscription races commenced at York, the city also giving L50 added money to each day's racing. At Newmarket there were only two meetings, one in April and the other in October, but in 1753 a second spring meeting was established, and in that year the Jockey Club, which was founded in 1750, established the present racing ground. In 1762 a second October meeting was added, in 1765 the July meeting, in 1770 the Houghton meeting, and in 1771 the Craven meeting. In 1766 Tattersall's was established at Hyde Park Corner by Richard Tattersall for the sale of horses; it remained the great emporium of horses, and the rendezvous for betting on horse races, until 1865, when, the lease of the premises at the Corner having run out, it was removed to Knightsbridge.

We now come to a very important period--that at which the great three-year-old races were instituted.

The St Leger.

The St Leger was established in 1776 by Colonel St Leger, who resided at Parkhill, near Doncaster. On the 24th of September, during the Doncaster races, which took place annually in the autumn, at his suggestion a sweepstake of 25 guineas each for three-year-old colts and fillies was run over a 2-m. course; there were six competitors, the property of as many subscribers,--a very small beginning, it must be owned. The race was won by a filly by Sampson, belonging to Lord Rockingham, which was afterwards named Allabaculia. In the following year the same stake had twelve subscribers and ten starters, and was won by Mr Sotheron's Bourbon. It was not, however, until the succeeding year, 1778, that it was named the St Leger, in compliment to the founder, at the suggestion of the marquis of Rockingham. The stakes were increased in 1832 to 50 sovs. each, and the weights have been raised from time to time to keep pace with modern requirements. The Doncaster Cup, a weight for age race for three-year-olds and upwards, was established in 1801. The course is nearly flat, of an oval or kite shape, about 1(3/4) m. round the town-moor.

The Derby and Oaks.

The Epsom Derby and Oaks were established in 1779 and 1780, the Oaks in the former and the Derby in the latter year. It is true that in 1730 Epsom races became annual, but the prizes were nothing more than the usual plates run for in heats, the money required being raised by voluntary subscriptions, as well by the owners of booths on the downs as by the parties more immediately interested, whence arose the custom of charges being made by the lord of the manor for permission to erect booths, &c. during the race-meetings. On the 14th of May 1779 the twelfth earl of Derby originated the Oaks stakes (named after his seat or hunting-box "The Oaks" at Woodmansterne), a sweepstake for three-year-old fillies run on a course 1(1/2) m. long. The race was won by Lord Derby's bay filly Bridget, bred by himself--her sire being Herod and her dam Jemima. In the following year the earl established a sweepstake of 50 sovs. each, half forfeit, for three-year-old colts. This, the first Derby, was won by Sir C. Bunbury's chestnut colt Diomed by Florizel, son of Herod, who beat eight opponents, including the duke of Bolton's Bay Bolton and Lord Grosvenor's Diadem. These two races have since been run for regularly every year, the Derby, which before 1839 was run on the Thursday, now taking place on the Wednesday, and the Oaks on the Friday, in the same week at the end of May.

Ascot Races.

Ascot races, which are held on Ascot Heath, were established by the duke of Cumberland, uncle of George III., and are patronized by royalty in state or semi-state. They are mentioned in the first _Racing Calendar_, published in 1727, but the races were for the most part plates and other prizes of small importance, though a royal plate for hunters appears to have been given in 1785. The Gold Cup was first given in 1807, and has been regularly competed for ever since, though from 1845 to 1853 inclusive it went by the designation of the Emperor's Plate, the prize being offered by the emperor of Russia. In 1854, during the Crimean War, the cup was again called the Ascot Gold Cup, and was given from the race fund. The Queen's Vase was first given in 1838, and the Royal Hunt Cup in 1843, while in 1865 a new long-distance race for four-year-olds and upwards was established, and named the Alexandra Plate, after the Princess of Wales.

Goodwood.

Goodwood races were established by the duke of Richmond on the downs at the northern edge of Goodwood Park in 1802, upon the earl of Egremont discontinuing races in his park at Petworth. The races take place at the end of July, on the close of the London season. The Goodwood Cup, the chief prize of the meeting, was first given in 1812; but from 1815 to 1824 inclusive there was no race for it, with the single exception of 1816.

Two Thousand, &c.

During the latter half of the 18th century horse-racing declined very much in England, and numbers of meetings were discontinued, the wars which took place necessarily causing the change. From the beginning of the 19th century, and especially after the conclusion of the French war in 1815, racing rapidly revived, and many new meetings were either founded or renewed after a period of suspension, and new races were from time to time established. Among others the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket for three-year-old colts and fillies, and the One Thousand Guineas for fillies, were established in 1809 and 1814 respectively, the Goodwood Stakes in 1823, the Chester Cup and Brighton Stakes in 1824, the Liverpool Summer Cup in 1828, the Northumberland Plate in 1833, the Manchester Cup in 1834, the Ascot Stakes and the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire Handicaps at Newmarket in 1839, the Stewards' and Chesterfield Cups at Goodwood in 1840, the Great Ebor Handicap at York in 1843, and, to omit others, the City and Suburban Handicap at Epsom in 1851, and the Lincoln Handicap in 1853.

Two-year-old racing was established very shortly after the great three-year-old races, and on a similar footing, that is to say, the competitors carried the same weights, with the exception of a slight allowance for sex,--the July Stakes at the Newmarket Midsummer Meeting having been founded as early as 1786. The Woodcote Stakes at Epsom succeeded in 1807, the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster in 1823, the Criterion Stakes at the Houghton Meeting in 1829, the Chesterfield Stakes at the Newmarket July meeting in 1834, the New Stakes at Ascot in 1843, the Middle Park Plate (or two-year-old Derby, as it is sometimes called) at the Newmarket Second October Meeting in 1866, the Dewhurst Plate at the Houghton Meeting in 1875, and the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood in 1877. (E. D. B.)

Classic Races in England.

_Present Conditions._--Horse-racing, usually described as "the national sport," has greatly advanced in general popularity in the British Isles. There is no doubt that the best specimens of the English thoroughbred horse are the finest animals of their kind in existence; the value of an infusion of the blood for chargers, hunters, hacks, and other varieties is scarcely to be overestimated; and the only way of ascertaining what animals may be most judiciously employed for breeding purposes is to submit them to the tests of preparation for and performance on the turf. Racing is therefore a practical necessity. On some accepted authority, the origin of which is not to be traced, five races run each season by three-year-olds are distinguished as "classic." Of these the chief, by universal consent, is the Derby, which takes place at Epsom during the week which includes the 31st May. The Epsom course, on which the Derby has been run since its origin in 1780, is by no means a good one, in consequence of the abrupt turn at Tattenham Corner; and the severe descent after this turn is made is also held to be a disadvantage, though a really good horse should be able to act on ascents, descents and level ground with equal relative facility. In many respects the St Leger, run at Doncaster about the middle of September, is a better test, as here colts and fillies meet when both are presumably able to do themselves the fullest justice. September, indeed, has been called "the Mares' Month," for though fillies are eligible to run in the Derby, they are very frequently out of sorts and always more or less uncertain in their performances during the summer--only four have been successful in 129 contests for the stake--whereas in the autumn their numerous victories in the St Leger prove them to be at their best. It was the recognition of this fact which induced an alteration of the weights in the year 1882, previously to which fillies had carried 5 lb. less than colts; the weights, formerly 8 st. 10 lb. and 8 st. 5 lb., are now 9 st. and 8 st. 11 lb. The Doncaster course is superior for racing purposes to that at Epsom, where the Oaks, another of the "classic races," is run on the Friday following the Derby; the other two contests which come into this category being the Two Thousand Guineas for colts and fillies, and the One Thousand Guineas for fillies only. These races take place at Newmarket during the First Spring Meeting, the former always on a Wednesday, the latter on Friday. The expression "a Derby horse" is common, but has no precise significance, as the three-year-olds vary much in capacity from year to year. It is generally understood, for instance, that Ormonde, who won the Derby in 1886, must have been at least 21 lb. superior to Sir Visto or Jeddah, who were successful in 1895 and 1898. By their ability to carry weight the value of horses is estimated on the turf. Thus one horse who beats another by a length over a distance of a mile would be described as a 5-lb. better animal.

Handicap Horses.

The term "handicap horse" once had an adverse significance which it does not now possess. In handicaps horses carry weight according to their presumed capacity, as calculated by handicappers who are licensed by the Jockey Club and employed by the directors of different meetings. The idea of a handicap is to afford chances of success to animals who would have no prospect of winning if they met their rivals on equal terms; but of late years the value of handicaps has been so greatly increased that few owners resist the temptation of taking part in them. Horses nowadays who do not run in this kind of contest are very rare, though a few, such as Ormonde, Isinglass, and Persimmon, never condescended to this class of sport. The duke of Westminster did not hesitate to put his Derby winner Bend Or into some of the chief handicaps; and it is, of course, a great test of merit when horses carrying heavy weights show marked superiority in these contests to rivals of good reputation more lightly burdened. St Gatien, who dead-heated with Harvester in the Derby of 1884; Robert the Devil, who won the St Leger in 1880 and on several occasions beat the Derby winner Bend Or; and La Fleche, who won the Oaks and the St Leger in 1892, added to the esteem in which they were held by their successes under heavy weights, the colts in the Cesarewitch, the filly in the Cambridgeshire. Of the chief handicaps of the year, special mention may be made of the City and Suburban, run at the Epsom Spring Meeting over 1(1/4) m.; the Kempton Park Jubilee, over 1 m.; the Ascot Stakes, 2 m., and the Royal Hunt Cup, 1 m.; the Stewards' Cup at Goodwood, six furlongs; the Cesarewitch Stakes and the Cambridgeshire Stakes at Newmarket, the former 2(1/4) m., the latter now a mile and a furlong--till lately it was "a mile and a distance"--"a distance" on the Turf being a fixed limit of 240 yds. The cups at Manchester, Newbury, and Liverpool are also handicaps of some note, though it may be remarked that the expression "a cup horse" is understood to imply an animal capable of distinguishing himself over a long distance at even weights against the best opponents. There are many other valuable stakes of almost equal importance, diminishing to what are known as "selling handicaps," the winners of which are always put up for sale by auction immediately after the race, in the lowest class of them the condition being that the winner is to be offered for L50. No stake of less than L100 can be run for under Jockey Club rules, which govern all reputable flat racing in England, nor is any horse ever entered to be sold for less than L50. As horses mature they are naturally able to carry heavier weights.

_Scale of Weight for Age._

The following scale of weight for age is published under the sanction of the Stewards of the Jockey Club as a guide to managers of race meetings, but is not intended to be imperative, especially as regards the weights of two-and three-year olds relatively to the old horses in selling races early in the year. It is founded on the scale published by Admiral Rous, and revised by him in 1873, but has been modified in accordance with suggestions from the principal trainers and practical authorities.

+-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ | Age. |Mar. and| May. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. |Oct. and| | | April. | | | | | | Nov. | +-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |_Five Furlongs_--|st. lb.|st. lb.|st. lb.|st. lb.|st. lb.|st. lb.|st. lb.| | Two years | 6 0 | 6 2 | 6 7 | 6 9 | 7 0 | 7 4 | 7 7 | | Three years | 8 2 | 8 3 | 8 5 | 8 7 | 8 9 | 8 10 | 8 11 | | Four years | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | | Five, six and | | | | | | | | | aged | 9 1 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | |_Six Furlongs_-- | | | | | | | | | Two years | 6 0 | 6 4 | 6 7 | 6 11 | 7 0 | 7 5 | 7 7 | | Three years | 8 4 | 8 6 | 8 8 | 8 10 | 8 12 | 9 0 | 9 2 | | Four years | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | | Five, six and | | | | | | | | | aged | 9 9 | 9 8 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | 9 7 | |_One Mile_-- | | | | | | | | | Two years | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 6 5 | 6 7 | | Three years | 7 9 | 7 11 | 7 13 | 8 2 | 8 4 | 8 5 | 8 6 | | Four years | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | | Five, six and | | | | | | | | | aged | 9 4 | 9 3 | 9 2 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | |_One Mile and a | | | | | | | | | Half_-- | | | | | | | | | Two years | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 6 0 | 6 4 | | Three years | 7 7 | 7 9 | 7 11 | 7 13 | 8 1 | 8 3 | 8 5 | | Four years | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | | Five, six and | | | | | | | | | aged | 9 5 | 9 4 | 9 3 | 9 2 | 9 1 | 9 0 | 9 0 | |_Two Miles_-- | | | | | | | | | Two years | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 6 0 | 6 2 | | Three years | 7 8 | 7 11 | 7 12 | 8 0 | 8 3 | 8 4 | 8 5 | | Four years | 9 4 | 9 4 | 9 4 | 9 4 | 9 4 | 9 4 | 9 4 | | Five, six and | | | | | | | | | aged | 9 10 | 9 9 | 9 8 | 9 7 | 9 6 | 9 5 | 9 4 | |_Three Miles_-- | | | | | | | | | Three years | 7 1 | 7 4 | 7 5 | 7 7 | 7 9 | 7 11 | 7 13 | | Four years | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | 9 0 | | Five years | 9 8 | 9 7 | 9 6 | 9 5 | 9 5 | 9 4 | 9 3 | | Six and aged | 9 10 | 9 8 | 9 7 | 9 6 | 9 5 | 9 4 | 9 3 | +-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

L10,000 Races.

In the year 1884 the managers of Sandown Park formulated the scheme of a race for a prize of L10,000, to be called the Eclipse Stakes, and to be run over a distance of 1(1/4) m. In order to secure a large entry, horses were to be nominated soon after their birth; owners who perceived the hopelessness of their nominations could withdraw at stated intervals by the payment of increasing forfeits; if their animals finally went to the post a stake amounting in all to L115 would have to be paid for them; and thus it will be seen that owners were really running for their own money, though if there were an insufficient number of entries the funds of the club might be taxed to supply the deficiency. The scheme was found to be attractive, and the example was followed at Leicester and at Manchester, at both of which places, however, it lapsed. At Newmarket, under the immediate auspices of the Jockey Club, the L10,000 races succeeded, and there were two of them each year. The Princess of Wales's Stakes was run for the first time in 1894 at the First July Meeting, and the Jockey Club Stakes at the First October. The former has, however, now been reduced to L2000 added to a sweepstake of L30 each with a minor forfeit. In the year 1900 a fourth race of similar character, the Century Stakes, was originated at Sandown, but the experiment proved a failure, and the contest was discontinued.

Two-year-old Races.

The age of the thoroughbred horse is always dated from the 1st January. Foals are generally born in February, March or April, though not a few good horses have been born in May; they become yearlings, therefore, on the 1st January following, two-year-olds twelve months later, and many of them begin to race in the following March, for flat racing always starts during the week which contains the 25th, except when Easter falls unusually early. In France no two-year-olds run until the 1st August, and discussion is frequently raised as to the respective wisdom of the English and French systems. It happens, however, that some young horses "come to hand" soon, and deteriorate with equal rapidity. They are, in fact, able to win races at the beginning of the season, and fail to hold their own later in the year against bigger and more powerful animals of their own age who have taken longer to mature; so that there is some argument in favour of the earlier date. The first noteworthy two-year-old race is the Brocklesby Stakes, run at Lincoln during the first week of the season. Sometimes the winner of the Brocklesby is really a good animal, as was the case with The Bard in 1885 and Donovan in 1888, but as a general rule when the autumn comes he is found to be far inferior to the winners of subsequent two-year-old races of good class. It is seldom that a first-class two-year-old appears before the Ascot Meeting about the middle of June, though horses of character sometimes run for the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom and in other contests elsewhere. The names of many of the most famous horses on the turf are found in the list of winners of the New Stakes at Ascot, which was first run in 1843 and maintains its character. In 1890 the Coventry Stakes was originated, and is regarded as a race of practically equal importance. The July Stakes at Newmarket is the oldest of existing two-year-old races, having been first run in 1786. The list of winners is a brilliant one. The Chesterfield Stakes ranks with it. The best two-year-olds are usually seen out at Goodwood, and as a general rule those that have chiefly distinguished themselves during the year, and are to make names for themselves later in life, are found contesting the Middle Park Plate at the Newmarket Second October Meeting and the Dewhurst Plate at the Newmarket Houghton. The Middle Park Plate is generally worth over L2000, the other races named are between L1000 and L2000 in value; but these are not the richest two-year-old prizes of the year, the value of the National Breeders' Produce Stakes at Sandown, run on the day following the Eclipse, being between L4000 and L5000, and the Imperial Stakes at Kempton Park falling not very far short of L3000. As a rule, a colt who has been specially successful as a two-year-old maintains his capacity later in life, unless it be found that he cannot "stay"--that is to say, is unable to maintain his best speed over more than five or six furlongs; but it is frequently the case that fillies who have won good races as two-year-olds entirely lose their form and meet with little or no success afterwards.

Newmarket.

Ascot and other meetings.

Newmarket is called with reason "the headquarters of the Turf." There are about forty training establishments in the town, each trainer being in charge of an average of thirty to forty horses, irrespective of mares, foals and yearlings. During the year eight race meetings are held on the Heath: the Craven; the First and Second Spring; the First and Second October--the First October usually occurring at the end of September; and the Houghton. These are contested on "the Flat," the course which includes the Rowley Mile. It is said that the Rowley Mile is so called from the fact of its having been a favourite race-ground with Charles II. The First and Second July Meetings take place on another course, known as "Behind the Ditch," the Ditch being the huge embankment which runs through several counties and has existed from time immemorial. The Craven Stakes for three-year-olds is an event of some importance at the first meeting of the year. It used to finish on an ascent at what is called the "Top of the Town," a course over which the handicap for the Cambridgeshire was run. This course has now been abandoned and the stand pulled down. At the First Spring Meeting the Two Thousand Guineas and the One Thousand Guineas occur, as already stated, but the names do not represent the values of the stakes, which are, in fact, usually worth close on L5000 each. The July Stakes and the Princess of Wales' Stakes are run at the First July Meeting. The Jockey Club Stakes is the leading event of the First October; the Cesarewitch and the Middle Park Plates follow in the Second October; the Criterion Stakes, another of the few races that once finished at the "Top of the Town," the Cambridgeshire and the Dewhurst Plate take place at the Houghton Meeting. The majority of races finish at the Rowley Mile post; but there are three other winning-posts along the Rowley Mile. "Behind the Ditch" races finish at two different posts, one of which enables horses to avoid the necessity of galloping up the severe ascent of the "Bunbury Mile." Although, as a rule, there is no better racing to be seen than the best events at Newmarket, the programmes are often spun out by selling plates and paltry handicaps, and a high level is nowhere so consistently maintained as at Ascot. The Ascot meeting is distinguished by the entire absence of selling plates, and much more "added money" is given than on any other course. Added money is the sum supplied by the directors of a race meeting, derived by them from the amounts paid for entrances to stands and enclosures; for in many races--the Ten Thousand prizes, for instance--owners run mainly or entirely for money which they have themselves provided. The Ascot Cup is generally spoken of as a race success in which sets the seal to the fame of a good horse. It is a prize of the highest distinction, and of late years has been of considerable value, the winner in 1909 having gained for his owner L3430. That the number of runners for this race should be invariably small--the average for many years past has been about six--is not a matter of surprise to those who are familiar with the Turf. There are very few horses possessing sufficient speed and staying power to make it worth the while of their owners to submit them to the exceedingly severe test of a preparation for this race, which is run over 2(1/2) m. of ground at a time of year when the turf is almost always extremely hard everywhere, and harder at Ascot than almost anywhere else. There is no course on which more good horses have hopelessly broken down. All the prizes are handsome, and success at Ascot confers much prestige, for the reason that the majority of horses that run are good ones; but annually there is a list of victims that never recover from the effects of galloping on this ground. Goodwood also attracts horses of high character, though some unimportant races fill out the programme. Formerly there were many meetings around London, which fell into disrepute in consequence of the manner in which they were conducted. These have been replaced by well-managed gatherings in enclosed parks, and here the value of the prizes is often so high that the best horses in training are attracted. These meetings include Sandown, Kempton, Gatwick, Lingfield, Newbury and Hurst Park. Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, York and various other towns have race meetings twice or oftener in the course of each year. At the various fixtures over half a million of money is annually given in stakes. The largest sum ever won by a horse was the L57,185 gained by Isinglass in 1892-1895. Donovan follows with L54,935. In all probability these large totals would have been considerably exceeded had not Flying Fox--who had won in his first two seasons L40,090--been disqualified by the death of his owner, the duke of Westminster, as this colt was engaged in the four L10,000 races of 1900, in which to all appearance he could not have been beaten, so much was he superior to his contemporaries. The death of an owner of horses disqualifies the animals he has entered--a necessary regulation, as otherwise an heir might be burdened with a stable of horses the possession of which would entail heavy expense and serious responsibility on a person who perhaps had no knowledge of or taste for racing.

Value of horses.

The value of an unquestionably good horse is enormous. It has been seen what handsome prizes are offered for competition, and when withdrawn from the Turf the horse may secure a large income to his owner at the stud. A stallion's fee of 600 guineas (as in the case of St Simon) should mean well over L20,000 a year; and fees of 100 guineas and more are common. Proved merit on the Turf is considered essential in a sire, though there have been instances of horses, unsuccessful during their racing career, who have distinguished themselves at the stud: Wisdom, sire of the Derby winner Sir Hugo, and several notable examples might be cited. Mares are much more uncertain in this respect. On the whole, the famous mares that have won the Oaks, the St Leger and other leading races, have been apt to fail in the paddocks; but there is always a hope of success with them, and the large sum of 12,600 guineas was paid for La Fleche when she had ceased from active service on the Turf. For None-the-Wiser 7200 guineas was given; and 4600 guineas for Wedlock when well advanced in years, on the strength of her having been the dam of a good horse called Best Man. Well-bred mares that have shown no capacity for racing are, however, frequently the dams of good winners. Breeding is a lottery. An Australian enthusiast some years since published a book the object of which was to enable breeders to produce good horses by a species of mathematical calculation; but the fallacy of the "Figure System" was at once proved by the simple circumstance that in very many cases the own brothers and sisters of good winners, whose breeding conformed entirely to the system, proved to be utterly worthless for racing purposes. It is a fact difficult of explanation that the majority of famous winners have been privately bred by their owners. Many persons breed for sale, in some cases sparing no expense or trouble in the endeavour to secure good results, and yearlings sold by auction have fetched prices of from 10,000 guineas (paid for Sceptre, a daughter of Persimmon and Ornament, in 1900) downwards; sums of over 1000 guineas being frequently given. That so large a proportion of high-priced yearlings should turn out failures is not at all a matter for surprise, considering the uncertainties of the Turf, but it by no means follows that a high-priced yearling is necessarily an expensive animal; 5500 guineas was, for instance, given for La Fleche, who won for her owner L34,585 in stakes, and, as already observed, was subsequently sold for 12,600 guineas. The principal yearling sales take place during the July meeting at Newmarket and the Doncaster meeting in September. There are also sales at Ascot and elsewhere. The Royal Stud at Bushey Park, where Memoir, La Fleche, Best Man and other good animals were bred, has now been abandoned.

Trainers and jockeys.

In many cases trainers have graduated from jockeys. The usual charge to an owner is 50s. a week per horse, but, as regards the cost of a horse in training, to this there are various additions irrespective of entrances to races, forfeits, travelling, jockey's fees, &c. The recognized sum paid to a jockey is 3 guineas for a losing mount, 5 guineas for winning. In many cases special terms are made; the principal owners usually have a claim on a rider's services, and for this call as much as L5000 per annum, exclusive of the usual riding fees, has been given.

From time immemorial until within a very recent period jockeys rode in much the same style, though, of course, with varying degrees of skill. Many hundreds of boys exercise daily at Newmarket and other training grounds, all of them necessarily having a firm seat in the saddle, for the thoroughbred horse is, as a rule, high-couraged and apt to play violent tricks; but though most of these lads find chances to distinguish themselves in trials and races for apprentices, probably not 5% grow into professional jockeys, increasing weight keeping many from the business, as a jockey has few chances unless he can ride well under 9 stone. Knowledge of pace is a rare gift or acquisition which is essential to successful jockeyship. The rider must also be quick to perceive how his own horse is going--what he has "left in him"; he must understand at a glance which of his rivals are beaten and which are still likely to be dangerous; must know when the moment comes for the supreme effort to be made, and how to balance and prepare the horse for that critical struggle. At the beginning of the race the jockey used to stand in his stirrups, with the idea of removing weight from the horse's back and preserving perfect steadiness; towards the end of the race, if it were necessary to drive the animal home, he sat down "to finish."

This method used to be adopted in all countries, but recently a new system came into practice in America. Instead of putting the saddle in the middle of the horse's back, where it had always been placed previously, it was shifted forward on to the animal's withers. The jockey rode with very short stirrups, leaning forward over the neck and grasping the reins within a few inches of the horse's mouth. The appearance of this was ungainly in the extreme and an entire departure from ancient ways (though Fordham and a few other riders of great reputation had always sat much more forward than their contemporaries), but it was found to be remarkably effective. From the position thus adopted there was less resistance to the wind, and though the saving in this respect was largely exaggerated, in racing, where success or failure is frequently a matter of a very few inches, every little that helps is to be considered. The value of the discovery lay almost entirely in the fact that the horse carries weight better--and is therefore able to stride out more freely--when it is placed well forward on his shoulders. With characteristic conservatism the English were slow to accept the new plan. Several American jockeys, however, came to England. In all the main attributes of horsemanship there was no reason to believe that they were in the least superior to English jockeys, but their constant successes required explanation, and the only way to account for them appeared to be that horses derived a marked advantage from the new system of saddling. A number of English riders followed the American lead, and those who did so met with an unusual degree of success. Race-riding, indeed, was in a very great measure revolutionized in the closing years of the 19th century.

Foreign horses.

Of late years American horses--bred, it must always be remembered, from stock imported from England--have won many races in England. Australian horses have also been sent to the mother country, with results remunerative to their owners, and the intermixture of blood which will necessarily result should have beneficial consequences. French horses--i.e. horses bred in France from immediate or from more or less remote English parentage--have also on various occasions distinguished themselves on English race-courses. That coveted trophy, the Ascot Cup, was won by a French horse, Elf II., in 1898, it having fallen also to the French-bred Verneuil in 1878, to Boiard in 1874, to Henry in 1872 and to Mortemer in 1871. In the Cesarewitch Plaisanterie (3 yrs., 7 st. 8 lb.) and Tenebreuse (4 yrs., 8 st. 12 lb.) were successful in 1885 and 1888; and Plaisanterie also carried off the Cambridgeshire as a three-year-old with the heavy weight of 8 st. 12 lb. in a field of 27 runners. In most respects racing in France is conducted with praiseworthy discrimination. There are scarcely any of the five- and six-furlong scrambles for horses over two years old which are such common features of English programmes.

Time.

That the horses who have covered various distances in the shortest times on record must have been exceptionally speedy animals is obvious. The times of races, however, frequently form a most deceptive basis in any attempt to gauge the relative capacity of horses. A good animal will often win a race in bad time, for the reason that his opponents are unable to make him exert himself to the utmost. Not seldom a race is described as having been "won in a canter," and this necessarily signifies that if the winner had been harder pressed he would have completed the course more quickly. The following figures show the shortest times that had been occupied in winning over various distances up to the spring of 1910:--

M. S. / Mirida (2 years), Epsom, 1905 \ Five furlongs < Le Buff (aged), Epsom, 1903 > 0 56(2/5) \ Master Willie (aged), Epsom, 1903 / Six furlongs Master Willie (5 years), Epsom, 1901 1 7(1/5) Seven furlongs Vav (4 years), Epsom, 1907 1 20(3/5) Mile Caiman (4 years), Lingfield, 1900 1 33(1/5) Mile and a quarter Housewife (3 years), Brighton, 1904 2 1(4/5) Mile and a half Zinfandel (3 years), Manchester, 1903 2 28(4/5) Mile and three quarters Golden Measure (4 years), York, 1906 2 57(4/5) Two miles Pradella (aged), Ascot, 1906 3 19(2/5) Two miles and a half Bachelor's Button, Ascot, 1906 4 23(1/5) Three miles Corrie Roy, Ascot, 1884 5 9

It may be noted that, as compared with similar records in 1901, only three of these latter held good in 1910, i.e. the mile, the six furlongs and the three miles. The fastest times over a mile and a half (the Derby and Oaks distance) up to 1901 may be repeated here as of some interest: Avidity, 2 min. 30(4/5) secs., in September 1901 at Doncaster; Santoi, 2 min. 31 secs., in May 1901 at Hurst Park; King's Courier, 2 min. 31 secs., in 1900 at Hurst Park; Landrail, 2 min. 34 secs., in September 1899 at Doncaster; Carbiston, 2 min. 37(2/5) secs., in August 1899 at York; Bend Or, 2 min. 40 secs., in 1881 at Epsom (gold cup): Volodyovski won the Derby in 1901, and Memoir the Oaks in 1890, in 2 min. 40(4/5) secs.

As regards time in famous races, Ormonde, perhaps the best horse of the 19th century--one, at any rate, that can scarcely have had a superior--occupied 2 minutes 45(3/5) seconds in winning the Derby; and Lonely, one of the worst mares that have won the Oaks, galloped the same mile and a half in 2 seconds less. Ormonde's St Leger time was 3 m. 21(2/5) s., and Sir Visto, one of the poorest specimens of a winner of the great Doncaster race, took 3 m. 18(2/5) s. The regulation of the weight to be carried serves to "bring the horses together," as the popular sporting phrase runs--that is to say, it equalizes their chances of winning; hence handicaps, the carrying of penalties by winners of previous races, and the granting of "maiden allowances." A horse that has never won a race, and is therefore known as a "maiden," often has an allowance of as much as 7 lb. made in its favour.

The Jockey Club.

Sport is carried on under the auspices of the Jockey Club, a self-elected body of the highest standing, whose powers are absolute and whose sway is judicious and beneficent. Three stewards, one of whom retires each year, when a successor is nominated, govern the active--and extremely arduous--work of the club. They grant licences to trainers and jockeys and all officials, and supervise the whole business of racing. The stewards of the Jockey Club are _ex officio_ stewards of Ascot, Epsom, Goodwood and Doncaster. All other meetings are controlled by stewards, usually well-known patrons of the Turf invited to act by the projectors of the fixture, who settle disputed points, hear and adjudicate on objections, &c., and, if special difficulties arise, report to the stewards of the Jockey Club, whose decision is final.

Steeplechasing.

Steeplechasing has altered entirely since the first introduction of this essentially British sport. In early days men were accustomed to match their hunters against each other and ride across country to a fixed point near to some steeple which guided them on their way; and this is no doubt, in several respects, a class of sport superior to that now practised under the name of steeplechasing; for it tested the capacity of the horse to jump fences of all descriptions, and provided the rider with opportunities of showing his readiness and skill in picking the best line of country. But racing of this kind afforded spectators a very small chance of watching the struggle; and made-up steeplechase courses, the whole circuit of which could be viewed from the enclosures, came into existence. The steeplechase horse has also changed. The speed of the thoroughbred is so much greater than that of all other breeds that if one were in the field, if he only stood up and could jump a little, his success was certain; consequently, except in "point-to-point" races, organized by various hunts, where a qualification is that all starters must have been regularly ridden with hounds, few other than thoroughbred horses are nowadays ever found in races run under the rules of the National Hunt Committee, the body which governs the sport of steeplechasing. A considerable proportion of existing steeplechase horses have done duty on the flat. Members of certain equine families display a special aptitude for jumping; thus the descendants of Hermit, who won the Derby in 1867, are very frequently successful in steeplechases--Hermit's son Ascetic, the sire of Cloister, Hidden Mystery and other good winners, is a notable case in point. The sons and daughters of Timothy and of several other Hermit horses often jump well. When a flat-race horse appears to have comparatively poor prospects of winning under Jockey Club rules, he is frequently, if he "looks like jumping," schooled for steeplechasing, generally in the first place over hurdles, and subsequently over what is technically called "a country," beginning with small fences, over which he canters, led by some steady animal who is to be depended on to show the way. A great many steeplechase horses also come from Ireland. They are usually recognizable as thoroughbred, though it is possible that in some cases the name of an ancestor may be missing from the Stud Book. Irish horse-masters are for the most part particularly skilful in schooling jumpers, and the grass and climate of Ireland appear to have beneficial effects on young stock; but, as a rule, the imported Irish horse improves considerably in an English training-stable, where he is better fed and groomed than in most Irish establishments. All steeplechase courses must at the present time contain certain regulation jumps, the nature of which is specified in the National Hunt rules:--

44. In all steeplechase courses there shall be at least twelve fences (exclusive of hurdles) in the first 2 m., and at least six fences in each succeeding m. There shall be a water jump at least 12 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep, to be left open, or guarded only by a perpendicular fence not exceeding 2 ft. in height. There shall be in each m. at least one ditch 6 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep on the taking-off side of the fence, which ditch may be guarded by a single rail, or left open, and which fence must be 4 ft. 6 in. in height, and, if of dead brushwood or gorse, 2 ft. in width.

45. In all hurdle-race courses there shall be not less than eight flights of hurdles in the first 2 m., with an additional flight of hurdles for every quarter of a m. or part of one beyond that distance, the height of the hurdles being not less than 3 ft. 6 in. from the bottom bar to the top bar.

Natural fences would no doubt be desirable if they could be utilized; but it is obvious that fences must be made up, because when the same hedge is jumped frequently, and for the most part in the same place--as it is the object of riders to go the shortest way round--gaps would necessarily be made. The use of these made courses naturally renders the sport somewhat artificial, but under existing conditions this is unavoidable; and as a matter of fact, by reason of the conformation of the ground, the arrangement and make of the fences, courses do vary in no small degree. The steeplechase horse differs from the hunter in his method of jumping. In riding to hounds a man usually steadies his horse at a fence, and in almost every case the animal "dwells" more or less after the leap. In a steeplechase, where speed is everything, horses must be taught to dash resolutely at their jumps without hesitation, and to get away with no pause on the other side; as a rule, therefore, an old steeplechase horse who is employed as a hunter is rarely a pleasant mount for any but a bold rider. It has been remarked that steeplechase horses are usually in the first place schooled over hurdles, and many animals remain hurdle racers till the end. More speed is required for hurdles than for a steeplechase course, and there is more money to be won over hurdles than over "a country." No hurdle race is worth so much as the Grand National or the Lancashire Handicap Steeplechase, the two richest prizes now offered; but, with the exception of these, hurdle-race stakes are as a rule of greater value. Except as a spectacle, there is little to be said in defence of this mongrel business, which is neither one thing nor the other; but hurdle races are popular and are therefore likely to continue. A few years ago an attempt was made to discriminate between what were called "hunters" and handicap steeplechase horses, and certain races were only open to the former class. It proved, however, to be a distinction without a difference; thoroughbred horses crept into the ranks of the so-called hunters, and when nominal hunters began to be entered for, and in some cases to win, the Grand National and other important steeplechases, for which they could be nominated by abandoning their qualification of hunter, the meaningless title was relinquished. Still more absurd were the hunters' flat races of a former day. In order to compete in these the rule was that an owner must produce a certificate from a master of hounds to the effect that his horse had been hunted. Thoroughbreds who lacked speed to win under Jockey Club rules used to be ridden to a meet, perhaps cantered across a field or two, and were then supposed to have become hunters. Animals who were genuinely and regularly utilized for the pursuit of foxes had of course no chance against these race-horses in shallow disguise. What are called National Hunt flat races still exist, the qualification being that a horse must have been placed first, second or third in a steeplechase in Great Britain or Ireland, after having jumped all the fences and completed the whole distance of the race to the satisfaction of at least two of the stewards, to whom previous notice must have been given in writing. There are no handicaps for such animals, and none is allowed to carry less than 11 stone. No race under National Hunt rules can be of a shorter distance than 2 m., except for three-year-olds, who sometimes run a mile and a half over hurdles; and the lowest weight carried can never be less than 10 stone except in a handicap steeplechase of 3(1/2) m. or upwards, when it may be 9 st. 7 lb.

Horses are ridden in these races either by gentlemen, or qualified riders or jockeys. The first of these classes comprises officers on full pay in the army or navy, persons holding commissions under the Crown, bearing titles either in their own right or by courtesy, or members of certain social and racing clubs. Qualified riders may be farmers holding at least a hundred acres of land, their sons if following the same occupation, and persons elected by members of the National Hunt Committee, a proviso being that they must never have ridden for hire; but it is feared that this rule is in not a few cases evaded. Professional jockeys are paid L5 for each mount or L10 if they win. The sport is governed by the National Hunt Committee, a body which receives delegated powers from the Jockey Club, and six stewards are elected every year to supervise the business of the various meetings. Steeplechases and hurdle races are either handicaps or weight-for-age races according to the following scale:--

_For Steeplechases of 3 miles and upwards._

From the 1st of January to the 30th of June, both inclusive:-- 4 yrs. 5 yrs. 6 and aged 10 st. 3 lb. 11 st. 8 lb. 12 st. 3 lb.

From the 1st of July to the 31st of December, both inclusive:-- 4 yrs. 5 yrs. 6 and aged 11 st. 11 st. 12 lb. 12 st. 3 lb.

_For Steeplechases of less than 3 miles._

From the 1st of January to the 30th of June, both inclusive:-- 4 yrs. 5 yrs. 6 and aged 10 st. 10 lb. 11 st. 10 lb. 12 st. 3 lb.

From the 1st of July to the 31st of December, both inclusive:-- 4 yrs. 5 yrs. 6 and aged 11 st. 6 lb. 12 st. 12 st. 3 lb.

_For Hurdle Races._

From the 1st of January to the 31st of August, inclusive:-- 4 yrs. 5 yrs. 6 and aged 11 st. 6 lb. 11 st. 10 lb. 12 st. 0 lb.

From the 1st of September to the 31st of December, inclusive:-- 3 yrs. 4 yrs. 5, 6, and aged 10 st. 7 lb. 11 st. 12 lb. 12 st. 3 lb.

The Grand National.

The great test of merit in a steeplechase horse is success in the Grand National, which is always run at Liverpool during the first week of the flat-racing season. The course is 4(1/2) m., and includes thirty jumps, the fences being for the most part larger than are found elsewhere. The average time occupied is well under ten minutes. The stake has varied in value since the race was originated in 1839; it now amounts to close on L2500. Only a very small percentage of steeplechase horses possess the speed and staying power to give them a chance in this race, and the number of entries year by year falls considerably short of a hundred, the prospects of many of these usually appearing hopeless to all but unduly sanguine owners. The average number of starters during the period 1860-1901 was rather over twenty. As many as thirty-two competed in 1909, when the French-bred Latteur III. won; in 1883, when Zoedone, ridden by her owner, Count Kinsky, was successful, only ten went to the post. Mishaps are almost invariably numerous; in most years about one-third complete the course. So severe is the task that for a long time many good judges of steeplechasing believed that no horse with more than 12 stone on his back could possibly win. In 1893, however, Cloister won in a canter by forty lengths carrying 12 st. 7 lb., and with the same weight Manifesto also won in 1899. The race which most nearly approaches the Grand National in importance is the Lancashire Handicap Steeplechase, run at Manchester over 3(1/2) m. early in April. The stake is worth about L1750. An interesting steeplechase called the Grand Sefton takes place at Liverpool about the middle of November; the distance is 3 m. During the winter, and extending into the spring, steeplechasing and hurdle racing are carried on at Sandown, Kempton, Gatwick, Lingfield, Newbury and Hurst Park; at Ludlow, Newmarket, Aldershot, Birmingham, Manchester, Windsor and other places. A race called the National Hunt Steeplechase, under the immediate patronage of the National Hunt Committee, is run annually over a 4-mile course, the stake being L1000. Managers of various courses bid for the privilege of having the race on their ground, and it is therefore found in different localities. A condition is that no horse who has ever won a race can compete; and, as few owners are willing to keep their animals with a view to success in this event, the field consists either of unknown horses or of those that have been beaten.

AUSTRALIA

Racing in Australia has its headquarters at Sydney, under the government of the Australian Jockey Club, the principal course being at Ranwick; and at Melbourne, where the Victoria Jockey Club is supreme, the principal course being at Flemington. In New Zealand sport is carried on under the authority of delegates from the chief racing clubs, who meet in conference. There is a Sydney Derby and a Victoria Derby, and a notable event at Flemington is the Champion Race, weight-for-age, for three-year-olds and upwards, which usually attracts the best horses in training, as the fee at which a sire stands depends in a great measure on his success in this contest. This race is over a distance of 3 m., and to ensure a good pace there is a regulation that the time in which it is run must not exceed 5 minutes 40 seconds, though the stewards have power to extend this in case the ground should be made exceptionally heavy by rainy weather. The Melbourne Cup is regarded as one of the most important races in the state. This is a handicap, and in comparison with English races may perhaps be ranked with the Cesarewitch. The birth of horses dates from the 1st of August, which corresponds as nearly as possible to the 1st of February in England, so that the Australian horses are practically seven months younger than the English--a matter of some importance in the case of those sent to run in England. There are few races which close long before the date of decision, and practically all the good animals run in handicaps. The five- and six-furlong races for other than two-year-olds, so common in Great Britain, are extremely rare; and it is asserted by colonial sportsmen that their horses stay better than those bred in England, a circumstance which is largely attributed to the fact that mares and foals have much more liberty and exercise than is the case in the mother country.

UNITED STATES

Horse-racing was indulged in to a limited extent in Maryland and Virginia as early as the middle of the 17th century, particularly in the latter colony. Most of the inhabitants of both were either from the British Isles or were descended from parents who had immigrated from them, and they inherited a taste for the sport. The animals used for this purpose, however, were not highly prized at the time, and the pedigree of not even one of them has been preserved. A horse called Bully Rock by the Darley Arabian out of a mare by the Byerly Turk, granddam by the Lister Turk, great-granddam a royal mare, foaled 1718, is the first recorded importation of a thoroughbred horse into America. He was imported into Virginia in 1730. In 1723 the duke of Bolton bred a mare named Bonny Lass by his celebrated horse Bay Bolton out of a daughter of the Darley Arabian. She became celebrated in England as a brood mare, and was the first thoroughbred mare, according to the records, that was carried to America. This is supposed to have been in or after 1740, as the _Stud-Book_ shows she produced in England after 1739 a filly by Lord Lonsdale's Arabian, and subsequently became familiar to the public as the granddam of Zamora. The importations increased very rapidly from this period, and many valuable shipments were made before the war which resulted in a separation of the colonies from the mother country. This acquisition of thoroughbred stock increased the number and value of racing prizes, and extended the area of operations into the Carolinas in the South, and New Jersey and New York in the North. The first race run in South Carolina was in February 1734 for L20. It took place over "the Green," on Charleston Neck. This shows that the earlier races in America were actually on the turf, as they have always been in England. The next year a Jockey Club was organized at Charleston (1735), and a course was prepared, such as those which came later into general use throughout the states, the turf being removed and the ground made as level as possible.

After 1776, when the United States declared their independence of Great Britain, the importation of thoroughbred horses from England became quite common, and selections were made from the best stocks in the United Kingdom. This continued and even increased as the country became developed, down to 1840. The following Derby winners were among those carried into the states: Diomed, who won the first Derby in 1780; Saltram, winner in 1783; John Bull, winner in 1792; Spread Eagle, winner in 1795; Sir Harry, winner in 1798; Archduke, winner in 1799; and Priam, who won in 1830. The most important and valuable importations, however, proved to be Jolly Roger, Fearnought, Medley, Traveller, Diomed, Glencoe, Leviathan, Tranby, Lexington, Margrave, Yorkshire Buzzard, Albion and Leamington. The best results were obtained from Diomed and Glencoe. Diomed sired one horse, Sir Archy, who founded a family to which nearly all the blood horses of America trace back. He was foaled in 1805, in Virginia, and became celebrated as a sire. The superiority of his progeny was so generally conceded that they were greatly sought after. From this period, too, the number and value of races increased; still they were comparatively few in number, and could not compare in value with those of Great Britain. Up to 1860 the value of racing prizes was quite inadequate to develop large breeding establishments, or to sustain extensive training stables. Then the civil war between the North and the South broke out, which raged for four years. Breeding establishments were broken up during that time; the horses were taken by the armies for cavalry purposes, for which service they were highly prized; and racing was completely paralysed. It took some time to regain its strength; but an era of prosperity set in about 1870, and since then the progress in interest has been continuous.

In the United States interest in trotting races more than rivals that felt in the contests of thoroughbred horses. This interest dates back to the importation to Philadelphia from England, in 1788, of the thoroughbred horse Messenger, a grey stallion, by Mambrino, 1st dam by Turf, 2nd dam by Regulus, 3rd dam by Starling, 4th dam by Fox, 5th dam Gipsey, by Bay Bolton, 6th dam by duke of Newcastle's Turk, 7th dam by Byerly Turk, 8th dam by Taffolet Barb, 9th dam by Place's White Turk. He was eight years old when imported to the United States. He was at the stud for twenty years, in the vicinity of Philadelphia and New York, serving a number of thoroughbred mares, but a far greater number of cold-blooded mares, and in the progeny of the latter the trotting instinct was almost invariably developed, while his thoroughbred sons, who became scattered over the country, were also noted for transmitting the trotting instinct. The first public trotting race of which there is any account in the United States was in 1818, when the grey gelding Boston Blue was matched to trot a mile in 3 minutes, a feat deemed impossible; but he won, though the time of his performance has not been preserved. From about that date interest in this gait began to increase; breeders of trotters sprang up, and horses were trained for trotting contests. The problem of breeding trotters has been necessarily found to be a much more complex one than that of breeding the thoroughbred, as in the latter case pure blood lines of long recognized value could be relied upon, while in the former the best results were constantly being obtained from most unexpected sources. Among the leading families came to be the Hambletonian, of which the modern head was Rysdyk's Hambletonian, a bay horse foaled in 1849, got by Abdallah (traced to imp. Messenger on the side of both sire and dam) out of the Charles Kent mare, by imp. (i.e. imported) Bellfounder, with two crosses to imp. Messenger on her dam's side; the Mambrinos, whose modern head was Mambrino Chief, foaled 1844, by Mambrino Paymaster, a grandson of imp. Messenger; the Bashaws, founded by Young Bashaw, foaled 1822, by Grand Bashaw, an Arabian horse, dam Pearl, by First Consul; the Clays, springing from Henry Clay, a grandson of Young Bashaw through Andrew Jackson; the Stars, springing from Stockholm's American Star, by Duroc, son of imp. Diomed; the Morgans, whose founder was Justin Morgan, foaled 1793, by a horse called True Briton, or Beautiful Bay, who was probably thoroughbred; the Black Hawks, a branch of the Morgan family; the Blue Bulls, descended from Doyle's Blue Bull, foaled 1855, a pacer, sired by a pacer of the same name, dam by Blacknose, son of Medoc; the Canadians, whose best representatives were St Lawrence and pacing Pilot, horses of unknown pedigree; the Gold Dusts, another branch of the Morgan family; and the Royal Georges, springing from Tippoo, a horse who was probably by Ogden's Messenger, son of imp. Messenger. But trotters of great speed have been produced which do not trace to any of the sources mentioned. Very large prices are paid. Steinway, a three-year-old colt, was sold in 1879, to go to California, for $13,000; and in 1878 $21,000 was paid for the four-year-old filly Maud S., after she had trotted a mile in public in 2 m. 17(1/2) s. Much larger sums have been paid, however, for matured trotters, such as $40,000 for the stallion Smuggler, $38,000 for Pocahontas, $35,000 for Dexter, $36,000 for Rarus, and long prices for many others; St Julien, the trotter with the fastest record at the close of 1879, was held at $50,000, while Rysdyk's Hambletonian, Messenger Duroc and Volunteer were valued, in their prime, at $100,000 each.

Compared with the early days of American trotting, the advance has been rapid and the changes marked. After the performance of Boston Blue, mentioned above, more attention was paid to the gait, but for a long time the races were generally under saddle, and at long distances, 3 m. being rather the favourite. The best of the old time trotters were Edwin Forrest, who trotted a mile in 2 m. 31(1/2) s. in 1834; Dutchman, who did 3 m. under saddle in 7 m. 32(1/2) s.; Ripton; Lady Suffolk, who trotted a mile in 2 m. 26(1/2) s. in 1843, and headed the list of performers; Mac, Tacony, &c. After 1850, however, the taste of the people settled upon the style of race called "mile heats, best three out of five, in harness" as the favourite. By "in harness" is meant that the horse draws a sulky, a light two-wheeled vehicle in which the driver sits close to the horse, with his legs on each side of his flanks. These sulkies often weigh less than 40 lb. The driver is required to weigh, with the blanket on which he sits, 150 lb., while for saddle races the regulation weight is 145 lb., or 10 st. 5 lb. Each heat of a mile is a separate race; 20 minutes is allowed between heats; and the horse that first places three heats to his credit wins the race. There are various penalties imposed upon a horse that breaks into a run in a trotting race. The driver is required to pull him to a trot as quickly as possible; if the horse gains by running, the judges set him back at the finish twice the distance he has gained, in their estimation, by running; and for repeated "breaks" they can declare him distanced. The first-class tracks are of oval shape, with long stretches and easy curves, measuring 1 m. at 3 ft. distance from the "pole," as the inner railing of the track is called. The time in which the leading horse trots each heat is accurately kept, placed on a blackboard in front of the judges' stand for the information of the public, and also placed in the book of the course. The fastest time that any trotter has is thus entered as his "record." This is one of the distinctive features of trotting in America.

Prior to 1866 purses for trotters were small; match races were more in vogue, and the trotting turf was in bad odour. In that year an association was formed at Buffalo, N.Y., which inaugurated its efforts by offering the then unprecedented sum of $10,500 for a trotting meeting of four days' duration. The experiment was successful; other cities followed the example of Buffalo; larger and larger purses were given; and at Buffalo in 1872 the prizes amounted to $70,000. Since then the amount offered in the United States and Canada, during a single year, has reached $1,500,000. Individual trotters, in the course of a long turf career, earn enormous amounts. A remarkable instance of this was the mare Goldsmith Maid, by Alexander's Abdallah (a son of Rysdyk's Hambletonian), out of an Abdallah mare. She began trotting in 1866, and left the turf in 1878, when twenty-one years old, and her winnings amounted to over $200,000.

In 1869 the National Trotting Association was formed, under which an elaborate code of rules has been published.

In trotting races, it will be noted, the time test is supreme, differing from running races, in which time is of comparatively little consequence. The animal which has the fastest record for 1 mile in harness is, until deposed, the king or queen of the trotting turf. Lady Suffolk, with her record of 2 m. 26(1/2) s., in 1843, held this honour until 1853, when Tacony trotted in 2 m. 25(1/2) s. under saddle; Flora Temple wrested it from him in 1856 by trotting in 2 m. 24(1/2) s. in harness. This latter mare, in 1859, trotted a mile in 2 m. 19(3/4) s., a feat which the best horsemen thought would never be repeated, but since that time forty-two trotters have beaten 2 m. 20 s. Dexter's record was 2 m. 17(1/4) s. in 1867, and Goldsmith Maid's in 1871 was 2 m. 17 s., which she reduced, by successive efforts, to 2 m. 16(3/4) s., 2 m. 16 s., 2 m. 15 s., 2 m. 14(3/4) s., and finally, in 1874, to 2 m. 14 s. In 1878 Rarus trotted a mile in 2 m. 13(1/4) s., and in October 1879 the bay gelding St Julien, by Volunteer, son of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, dam by Henry Clay, trotted a mile in California in 2 m. 12(3/4) s. Other notable performances reducing the record were Maud S. in 1881, 2 m. 10(1/4) s.; Maud S. in 1885, 2 m. 8(3/4) s.; Sunol in 1891, 2 m. 8(1/4) s.; Nancy Hanks in 1892, 2 m. 4 s.; Alix in 1894, 2 m. 3(3/4) s.; Cresceus in 1901, 2 m. 2(1/4) s.; Lou Dillon in 1905, 1 m. 58(1/2) s. Improved times have doubtless been the result of improved methods, as well as of care in the breeding of the trotter. Some very severe training rules used to be sedulously observed; about 1870, for instance, a horse never had water the night before a race, and the system generally appears to have overtaxed the animal's strength. A prominent consideration in trotting races is the adjustment of toe-weights, which are fastened on to the horses' feet to equalize their action, and it is found that horses improve their time to the extent of several seconds when properly shod.

Pacing races are also frequent in the United States. In trotting the action may be described as diagonal; the pacer moves both legs on the same side at the same time, and both feet stride as one. A similar "gait," to employ the American term, was called in England some centuries ago an "amble." The pacer moves more easily and with apparently less exertion than the trotter, and the mile record (made by Prince Alert in 1903) stands at 1 m. 57 s.

Owing to the vast size of the country there are various centres of sport, which can be classified with reasonable accuracy as follows: the Eastern States, dominated by the Jockey Club, founded in New York in 1894, and recognized by a state law in 1895; the Middle Western States, under the control of the Western Jockey Club, whose headquarters are in Chicago; the Pacific Coast, with San Francisco for its centre; and the Southern and South-Western States, with Louisville as the most important centre. The passage of the racing law in New York State marked the opening of a new era. Supreme even over the Jockey Club is a State Racing Commission of three, appointed by the governor of the state. While the Jockey Club is only recognized by law in its native state, it has assumed and maintains control of all racing on the eastern seaboard, within certain lines of latitude and longitude, extending as far north as the Canadian border and south to Georgia. There is small question that other states, both east and west, will follow suit and enact similar laws. The Western Jockey Club, though not recognized by law, controls practically all the racing through the middle west, south-west and south; but the racing associations of the Pacific Coast have maintained a position of independence.

What New York is to the east, Chicago is to the middle west, and a very large proportion of American racing is conducted close to these centres. In New York State the Coney Island Jockey Club, at Sheepshead Bay; the Brooklyn Jockey Club, at Gravesend; the Westchester Racing Association, at Morris Park; the Brighton Beach Racing Association, at Brighton Beach; the Queen's County Jockey Club, at Aqueduct; and the Saratoga Racing Association, at Saratoga, are the leading organizations; and all these race-courses, with the exception of Saratoga, are within a radius of 20 miles of the city. The Empire City Jockey Club, near Yonkers, and another club with headquarters near Jamaica, Long Island, have also become prominent institutions. The Washington Park Club, at Chicago, is the leading Turf body of the west, and the only one on an equal footing with the prominent associations of New York State. With this single exception the most important and valuable stakes of the American Turf are given in the east; and so great has the prosperity of the Turf been since the Jockey Club came into existence that the list of rich prizes is growing at a surprising rate. In this respect the principal fault is the undue encouragement given to the racing of two-year-olds. At the winter meetings held at New Orleans and San Francisco, two-year-olds are raced from the very beginning of the year; and under the rules of the Jockey Club of New York they run as early as March. The Westchester Racing Association, with which are closely identified some of the principal members of the Jockey Club, gives valuable two-year-old stakes in May. The Futurity Stakes, the richest event of the year--on one occasion it reached a value of $67,675--is for two-year-olds, and is run at Sheepshead Bay in the autumn. The institution of races, either absolutely or practically at weight-for-age, and over long courses, has engaged much attention. The Coney Island Jockey Club has the leading three-year-old stake in the Lawrence Realization, over 1 mile 5 furlongs, with an average value of about $30,000. The Westchester Racing Association's two principal three-year-old stakes, the Withers, over a mile, run in May, and the Belmont, 1 mile and 3 furlongs, run later in the same month, are of less value, but are much older-established and have a species of "classic" prestige, dating from the old Jerome Park race-course in the 'sixties. The Coney Island Jockey Club's Century and the Annual Champion Stakes, both for three-year-olds and upwards, over a mile and a half and two miles and a quarter respectively, are fair specimens of the races the associations have founded. At Saratoga a stake of $50,000 for three-year-olds and upwards, distance a mile and a quarter, was opened, and run for first in 1904. The hope is to wean owners from the practice of overtaxing their two-year-olds, which has resulted practically in a positive dearth, almost a total absence, of good four-year-olds and upwards of late years. Handicaps play a more important part than in England. The principal events of this character, such as the Brooklyn Handicap at Gravesend and the Suburban at Sheepshead Bay, have for years drawn the largest attendances of the racing season.

Practically all flat racing in the United States is held on "dirt-tracks," i.e. courses with soil specially prepared for racing, instead of turf courses. At Sheepshead Bay there is a turf course, but it is only used for a minority of races. Dirt-tracks, which are, like many other things in American racing, a legacy from the once hugely popular harness-racing, are conducive to great speed, but are costly in the extreme strain on horses' legs. Steeplechases are run on turf. This branch of the sport in the east is now flourishing under the administration of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, a sister body of the Jockey Club. Comparatively few races are, however, run under these rules, as the weather conditions render it impossible to have a separate season for cross-country sport and steeplechases, and hurdle races are incorporated in programmes of flat racing held through the spring, summer and autumn, though the ground is frequently so hard as to be unsafe. Since the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association assumed control, regulation courses, practically similar in every respect to those used in England, have been insisted upon in the east, the "open ditch" figuring under the name of the "Liverpool." In the west and south there is not the same uniformity, and so far the sport has not flourished.

FRANCE

Racing in France as conducted on modern lines may be said to date from the year 1833, when the French _Stud-Book_ was originated, and a body formed, somewhat after the model of the English Jockey Club, under the title of the Societe d'Encouragement pour l'Amelioration des Races de Chevaux en France. Races took place in the Champs de Mars, and an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1834 to arrange for a course, or "hippodrome," as it is termed in France, at Maisons Laffitte. Chantilly was, however, fixed upon as the principal racing centre; on the 22nd April 1836 the first meeting was held there, with five races on the card, the principal being the Prix d'Orleans, a stake of 3500 francs, named after the due d'Orleans, one of the chief promoters of the fixture. Next day the first race for the Prix du Jockey Club was run, and won by Frank, the property of Lord Henry Seymour, who was at the time taking a very active part in French sport. The Prix du Jockey Club was then worth 5000 francs; the value has since increased to 200,000 francs. This race occupies in France the place of the English Derby. The Prix de Diane, which corresponds to the English Oaks, was first run in 1843. Chantilly still continues an important centre of the French Turf, and a great many horses are trained in the district. Attempts had been made to popularize racing at Longchamps prior to the year 1856, when the Societe d'Encouragement obtained a lease, erected stands, laid out the course, and held their first meeting on the 27th August 1857. Next season two meetings were held, one of four days in the spring and another of three in the autumn; at the present time the sport is vigorously carried on from March to the end of October, except during a summer recess. In 1857 meetings under the auspices of the Societe d'Encouragement began to take place at Amiens, Caen, Nantes, Versailles, Moulins and other towns; and there were stakes for two-year-olds in the spring, though of late years the appearance of the young horses has been postponed to the 1st of August. Progress was rapid, and in 1863 two important events were contested for the first time, the Prix du Prince Imperial, which was designed to balance the English St Leger, but for obvious reasons faded out of the programme, and the Grand Prix de Paris, an international race for three-year-olds, run at Longchamps over a distance of 1 mile 7 furlongs, and now the most valuable stake in Europe. In 1909 the prize was L14,071. The first Grand Prix fell to an English horse, Mr Savile's The Ranger; two years later it was won by Gladiateur, winner of the English Derby and the property of the comte de Lagrange, who raced equally in France and in England; the duke of Beaufort's Ceylon was successful in 1866, and the marquis of Hastings' Earl in 1868. Mr Savile's Cremorne followed up his Derby victory by a victory at Longchamps in 1872, as did Mr Baltazzi's Kisber four years later. English horses were also victorious in 1874 (Mr W. R. Marshall's Trent), in 1878 (Prince Soltykoff's Thurio), in 1880 (Mr C. Brewer's Robert the Devil), in 1881 (Mr Keene's Foxhall, who, however, should rather rank as an American horse), in 1882 (Mr Rymill's Bruce), in 1885 (Mr Cloete's Paradox), in 1886 (Mr Vyner's Minting); and in 1906 Major Eustace Loder's Derby winner Spearmint. During the first 23 years of the Grand Prix (owing to the war the race did not take place in 1871) the stake fell to English horses--if Kisber and Foxhall be included--on twelve occasions, and generally to English jockeys. In recent years, however, French owners have held their own. In not a few respects racing is managed more judiciously than in England. The courses, for one thing, are better tended and maintained. The five- and six-furlong races for others than two-year-olds, which are so common at English meetings, are comparatively rare in France, and the value of the prizes in an average day's racing is considerably higher across the Channel than in England. A very large percentage of trainers and jockeys are English, and the former are, as a rule, quite as expert as at Newmarket and elsewhere. Transatlantic methods have been introduced by American jockeys since 1899. From the middle of February until the middle of December a race meeting within easy reach of Paris takes place almost every day, except during August, when the sport is carried on in the provinces, notably at Deauville. Near Paris, the chief centre after Longchamps is Maisons Laffitte. At Longchamps, early in October, a race called the Prix du Conseil Municipal, worth L4000, for three-year-olds and upwards, over a mile and a half, was organized in 1893, and has usually attracted English horses, Mr Wallace Johnstone's Best Man having been successful in 1894, and Mr Sullivan's Winkfield's Pride the following year. Except when the Whip is challenged for and the challenge decided over the Beacon Course at Newmarket, no race is run in England over a longer distance than two miles and 6 furlongs; but in France the Prix Gladiateur, of L1200 and a work of art value L100, 3 miles 7 furlongs, creates considerable interest at Longchamps in the autumn.

Steeplechasing.

The first recognized steeplechase in France took place at Croix de Berny, and was won by the comte de Vaublanc's May-fly, all the horses at that time being ridden by gentlemen. Sport does not seem to have been carried on with much spirit, for it is said that the death of an animal called Barcha, in 1839, nearly led to the abandonment of the meeting; and it was not till 1863, when the Societe des Steeplechases de France was founded, that the business was resolutely taken in hand. Gravelle and Vincennes were the principal centres until 1873, when the Societe obtained possession of the ground at Auteuil, where the excellent course now in use was laid out. In 1874 twelve days' racing took place here, the card each day including three steeplechases and a hurdle race, the "hurdles," however, being small fences, as they are at present. The Grand Steeplechase d'Auteuil was then for a stake of 30,000 francs, at the time the most valuable offered in any country; but, as in racing on the flat, the stakes have enormously increased in value, and in 1901 the Paris Grand Steeplechase, as the chief event is now called, credited the winner with L6020, the hurdle race being worth rather more than half as much. In England there is scarcely any steeplechasing between March and November, except at hunt meetings, but in Paris cross-country sport is pursued almost all through the year, the chief races at Auteuil taking place in June, about the time of the Grand Prix, which is usually run for between the English Epsom and Ascot meetings. The Auteuil course is laid out in the shape of the figure 8, with varied fences, several of which really test a horse's jumping capacity; and variety is further obtained by starting the fields in different places and traversing the course in different ways. St Ouen, a meeting within half an hour's drive of the Louvre, is entirely devoted to steeplechasing; and jumping is also carried on at Vincennes, Colombes, Enghien, and elsewhere near Paris, as also at Nice in the winter, at Dieppe and other places in August. As a rule, the stakes run for, especially at Auteuil, are very much larger than in England. There are none of the clubs and special enclosures such as at Sandown, Kempton, Hurst, Lingfield, Gatwick, &c., though portions of the stand are set apart for privileged persons. A fee of 20 francs is charged for admission to the chief French race-courses, with half as much for a lady's voucher, and the tickets give access everywhere but to the very few reserved portions. At Vincennes, St Cloud, and some other courses trotting races are also contested.

_Other Countries._--Racing in Germany is mainly conducted under the authority of the Union Club of Berlin, the principal course being the Hoppegarten. Two-year-olds do not run until the 1st of June, except in Saxony, where they appear a month earlier. During the month of August there are several days' racing at Baden-Baden, steeplechases as well as flat races being run. Some of the more valuable stakes are usually contested by a proportion of horses from France and other countries, a few being occasionally sent from England. For years past blood-stock has been imported from England. In Austria the two centres of racing are Vienna and Budapest, each of which has its Jockey Club. Racing in Belgium derives no little support from the contiguity of the country to France. The headquarters of the Belgium Jockey Club are in the Bois de la Cambre at Boisfort, and meetings are held at Ostend, Antwerp, Spa, Bruges and elsewhere. Steeplechases take place at Groenenval and on other Belgian courses, but are not of high class. Racing has not reached a great degree of excellence in Italy, though attempts have been made to improve competitors by the purchase of Melton, who won the Derby of 1885, and of other notable animals. Meetings take place at Florence, Padua, Bologna and other places, but the stakes are usually small. (A. E. T. W.)

HORSERADISH (Ger. _Meerrettig_; Fr. _raifort_ = _racine forte_, _cran de Bretagne_; Swed. _Peppar-rot_; Russ. _chren_), known botanically as _Cochlearia Armoracia_, a perennial plant of the natural order Cruciferae, having a stout cylindrical rootstock from the crown of which spring large radical leaves on long stalks, 4 to 6 in. broad, and about a foot in length with a deeply crenate margin, and coarsely veined; the stem-leaves are short-stalked or sessile, elongated and tapering to their attachment, the lower ones often deeply toothed. The flowers, which appear in May and June, are 3/8 in. in width, in flat-topped panicles, with purplish sepals and white petals; the fruit is a small silicula, which does not ripen in the climate of England. The horseradish is indigenous to eastern Europe. Into western Europe and Great Britain, where it is to be met with on waste ground, it was probably introduced. It was wild in various parts of England in Gerard's time.

The root, the _armoraciae radix_ of pharmacy, is 1/2 to 2 in. or more in diameter, and commonly 1 ft., sometimes 3 ft. in length; the upper part is enlarged into a crown, which is annulated with the scars of fallen leaves; and from the numerous irregular lateral branches are produced vertical stolons, and also adventitious buds, which latter render the plant very difficult of extirpation. From the root of Aconite (q.v.), which has occasionally been mistaken for it, horseradish root differs in being more or less cylindrical from a little below the crown, and in its pale yellowish (or brownish) white hue externally, acrid and penetrating odour when scraped or bruised, and pungent and either sweetish or bitter taste. Under the influence of a ferment which it contains, the fresh root yields on distillation with water about .05% of a volatile oil, butyl sulphocyanide, C4H9CNS. After drying, the root has been found to afford 11.15% of ash. Horseradish root is an ingredient in the _spiritus armoraciae compositus_ (dose 1-2 drachms) of the British Pharmacopoeia. It is an agreeable flavouring agent. In common with other species of _Cochlearia_, the horseradish was formerly in high repute as an antiscorbutic. The root was, as well as the leaves, taken with food by the Germans in the middle ages, whence the old French name for it, _moutarde des Allemands_; and Coles, writing in 1657, mentions its use with meat in England, where it is still chiefly employed as a condiment with beef.

For the successful cultivation of the horseradish, a light and friable damp soil is the most suitable; this having been trenched 3 ft. deep in autumn, and the surface turned down with a liberal supply of farm-yard manure, a second dressing of decomposed manure should in the ensuing spring be dug in 2 ft. deep, and pieces of the root 6 in. in length may then be planted a foot apart in narrow trenches. During summer the ground requires to be kept free of weeds; and the application of liquid manure twice or thrice in sufficient quantity to reach the lowest roots is an advantage. When dug the root may be long preserved in good condition by placing it in sand.

See Gerard, _Herball_, p. 240, ed. Johnson (1636); Fluckiger and Hanbury, _Pharmacographia_, p. 71 (2nd ed., 1879); Bentley and Trimen, _Med. Pl._, i. 21 (1880).

HORSE-SHOES. The horny casing of the foot of the horse and other Solidungulates, while quite sufficient to protect the extremity of the limb under natural conditions, is found to wear away and break, especially in moist climates, when the animal is subjected to hard work of any kind. This, however, can be obviated by the simple device of attaching to the hoof a rim of iron, adjusted to the shape of the hoof. The animal itself has been in a very marked manner modified by shoeing, for without this we could have had neither the fleet racers nor the heavy and powerful cart-horses of the present day. Though the ancients were sufficiently impressed by the damage done to horses' hoofs to devise certain forms of covering for them (in the shape of socks or sandals), the practice of nailing iron plates or rim-shoes to the hoof does not appear to have been introduced earlier than the 2nd century B.C., and was not commonly known till the close of the 5th century A.D., or in regular use till the middle ages. The evidence for the earlier date depends on the doubtful interpretations of designs on coins, &c. As time went on, however, the profession of the farrier and the art of the shoesmith gradually grew in importance. It was only in the 19th century that horse-shoeing was introduced in Japan, where the former practice was to attach to the horse's feet slippers of straw, which were renewed when necessary, a custom which may indicate the usage of early peoples. In modern times much attention has been devoted to horse-shoeing by veterinary science, with the result of showing that methods formerly adopted caused cruel injury to horses and serious loss to their owners. The evils resulted from (1) paring the sole and frog; (2) applying shoes too heavy and of faulty shape; (3) employing too many and too large nails; (4) applying shoes too small and removing the wall of the hoof to make the feet fit the shoes, and (5) rasping the front of the hoof. In rural districts, where the art of the farrier is combined with general blacksmith work, too little attention is apt to be given to considerations which have an important bearing on the comfort, usefulness and life of the horse. According to modern principles (1) shoes should be as light as compatible with the wear demanded of them; (2) the ground face of the shoe should be concave, and the face applied to the foot plain; (3) heavy draught horses alone should have toe and heel calks on their shoes to increase foothold; (4) the excess growth of the wall or outer portion of horny matter should only be removed in re-shoeing, care being taken to keep both sides of the hoof of equal height; (5) the shoe should fit accurately to the circumference of the hoof, and project slightly beyond the heel; (6) the shoes should be fixed with as few nails as possible, six or seven in fore-shoes and eight in hind-shoes, and (7) the nails should take a short thick hold of the wall, so that old nail-holes may be removed with the natural growth and paring of the horny matter. Horse-shoes and nails are now made with great economy by machinery, and special forms of shoe or plate are made for race-horses and trotters, or to suit abnormalities of the hoof.

HORSETAIL (_Equisetum_), the sole genus of the botanical natural order Equisetaceae, consisting of a group of vascular cryptogamous plants (see PTERIDOPHYTA) remarkable for the vegetative structure which resembles in general appearance the genera of flowering plants _Casuarina_ and _Ephedra_. They are herbaceous plants growing from an underground much-branched rootstock from which spring slender aerial shoots which are green, ribbed, and bear at each node a whorl of leaves reduced to a toothed sheath. From the nodes spring whorls of similar but more slender branches. Some shoots are sterile while others are fertile, bearing at the apex the so-called fructification--a dense oval, oblong conical or cylindrical spike, consisting of a number of shortly-stalked peltate scales, each of which has attached to its under surface a circle of spore-cases (sporangia) which open by a longitudinal slit on their inner side. The spores differ from those of ferns in their outer coat (_exospore_) being split up into four club-shaped hygroscopic threads (_elaters_) which are curled when moist, but become straightened when dry. In most species the fertile and sterile shoots are alike, both being green and leaf-bearing, but in a few species the fertile are more or less different, e.g. in _E. arvense_ the fertile shoots appear first, in the spring, and are unbranched and not green. Any portion of the underground rhizome when broken off is capable of producing a new plant; hence the difficulty of eradicating them when once established. There are 24 known species of the genus which is universally distributed.

The corn horsetail _E. arvense_, one of the commonest species, is a troublesome weed in clayey cornfields (see fig.). The fructification appears in March and April, terminating in short unbranched stems. It is said to produce diarrhoea in such cattle as eat it. The bog horsetail, _E. palustre_, is said to possess similar properties. It grows in marshes, ditches, pools and drains in meadows, and sometimes obstructs the flow of water with its dense matted roots. The fructification in this species is cylindrical, and in that of _E. limosum_, which grows in similar situations, it is ovate in outline. The largest British species, _E. maximum_, grows in wet sandy declivities by railway embankments or streams, &c., and is remarkable for its beauty, due to the abundance of its elegant branches and the alternately green and white appearance of the stem. In this species the fructification is conical or lanceolate, and is found in April on short, stout, unbranched stems which have large loose sheaths. Horses appear to be fond of this species, and in Sweden it is stored for use as winter fodder. _E. hyemale_, commonly known as the Dutch rush, is much more abundant in Holland than in Britain; it is used for polishing purposes. _E. variegatum_ grows on wet sandy ground, and serves by means of its fibrous roots to bind the sand together. The horsetails are remarkable for the large quantity of silica they contain in the cuticle (hence their value in polishing), which often amounts to half the weight of the ash yielded by burning them; the roots contain a quantity of starch.

HORSHAM, a market town in the Horsham parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 38 m. S. by W. from London by the London, Brighton and South Coast railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 9446. It is pleasantly situated in the midst of a fertile country near the source of the Arun. A picturesque avenue leads to the church of St Mary, principally Early English and Perpendicular, with remains of Norman work, having a lofty tower surmounted by a spire, and containing several fine monuments, tombs and brasses. Other buildings include the grammar school, founded in 1532 and rebuilt in 1893, a town hall and corn exchange, erected in 1866 in Italian style, with an assembly room. In the vicinity are several fine mansions. The buildings of Christ's Hospital (q.v.) at West Horsham were opened in 1902, the school being removed hither from London. The town has industries of tanning, founding, carriage-building and flour-milling.

Some neolithic remains have been found at Horsham. The town is not mentioned in Domesday Book, but the Rape of Bramber, in which it lies, belonged at that time to William de Braose. His descendants held the borough and the manor of Horsham, and through them they passed to the family of Mowbray, afterwards dukes of Norfolk. There are traces of burgage tenure at Horsham in 1210, and it was called a borough in 1236. It has no charter of incorporation. Horsham sent two representatives to parliament from 1295 until 1832, when the number was reduced to one. In 1885 it was disfranchised. In 1233 Henry III. granted William de Braose a yearly three-days' fair at his manor of Horsham. In the reign of Edward I. William de Braose claimed to have a free market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Fairs are held on the 5th of April, 18th of July, 17th of November and 27th of November. Market days are Monday and Wednesday. "Glovers" of Horsham are mentioned in a patent roll of 1485, and a brewery existed here in the time of Queen Anne.

HORSLEY, JOHN (c. 1685-1732), British archaeologist. John Hodgson (1779-1845), the historian of Northumberland, in a short memoir published in 1831, held that he was born in 1685, at Pinkie House, in the parish of Inveresk, Midlothian, and that his father was a Northumberland Nonconformist, who had migrated to Scotland, but returned to England soon after the Revolution of 1688. J. H. Hinde, in the _Archaeologia Aeliana_ (Feb. 1865), held that he was a native of Newcastle-on-Tyne, the son of Charles Horsley, a member of the Tailors' Company of that town. He was educated at Newcastle, and at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A. on the 29th of April 1701. There is evidence that he "was settled in Morpeth as a Presbyterian minister as early as 1709." Hodgson, however, thought that up to 1721, at which time he was residing at Widdrington, "he had not received ordination, but preached as a licentiate." Even if he was ordained then, his stay at the latter place was probably prolonged beyond that date; for he communicated to the _Philosophical Transactions_ (xxxii. 328) notes on the rainfall there in the years 1722 and 1723. Hinde shows that during these years "he certainly followed a secular employment as agent to the York Buildings Company, who had contracted to purchase and were then in possession of the Widdrington estates." At Morpeth Horsley opened a private school. Respect for his character and abilities attracted pupils irrespective of religious connexion, among them Newton Ogle, afterwards dean of Westminster. He gave lectures on mechanics and hydrostatics in Morpeth, Alnwick and Newcastle, and was elected F.R.S. on the 23rd of April 1730. It is as an archaeologist that Horsley is now known. His great work, _Britannia Romana, or the Roman Antiquities of Britain_ (London, 1732), one of the scarcest and most valuable of its class, contains the result of patient labour. There is in the British Museum a copy with notes by John Ward (c. 1679-1758), biographer of the Gresham professors. Horsley died of apoplexy on the 12th of January 1732, on the eve of the publication of the _Britannia Romana_. He also published two sermons and a handbook to his lectures on mechanics, &c., and projected a history of Northumberland and Durham, collections for which were found among his papers.

J. P. Wood (d. 1838) (_Parish of Cramond_, 1794, and _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, 1782, p. 371) says that his wife was a daughter of William Hamilton, D.D., minister of Cramond, afterwards professor of divinity in Edinburgh University, but probably the John Horsley in question was another, the father of Samuel Horsley (q.v.).

HORSLEY, JOHN CALLCOTT (1817-1903), English painter, son of William Horsley, the musician, and grand-nephew of Sir Augustus Callcott, was born in London, on the 29th of January 1817. He studied painting in the Academy schools, and in 1836 exhibited "The Pride of the Village" (Vernon Gallery) at the Royal Academy. This was followed by numerous _genre_ pictures at subsequent exhibitions up to 1893, the best known of these being "Malvolio," "L'Allegro and il Penseroso" (painted for the Prince Consort), "Le Jour des Morts," "A Scene from Don Quixote," &c. In 1843 his cartoon of "St Augustine Preaching" won a prize in the Westminster Hall competition, and in 1844 he was selected as one of the six painters commissioned to execute frescoes for the Houses of Parliament, his "Religion" (1845) being put in the House of Lords; he also painted the "Henry V. assuming the Crown" and "Satan surprised at the Ear of Eve." In 1864 he became R.A., and in 1882 was elected treasurer, a post which he held till 1897, when he resigned and became a "retired Academician." Mr Horsley had much to do with organizing the winter exhibitions of "Old Masters" at Burlington House after 1870. When, during the 'eighties, the example of the French Salon began to affect the Academy exhibitors, and paintings of the nude became the fashion, he protested against the innovation, and his attitude caused _Punch_ to give him the punning sobriquet of "Mr J. C(lothes) Horsley." He died on the 18th of October 1903. His son, Sir Victor Horsley (b. 1857), became famous as a surgeon and neuropathologist, and a prominent supporter of the cause of experimental research.

HORSLEY, SAMUEL (1733-1806), English divine, was born in London on the 15th of September 1733. Entering Trinity College, Cambridge, he became LL.B. in 1758 without graduating in arts, and in the following year succeeded his father in the living of Newington Butts in Surrey. Horsley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767; and secretary in 1773, but, in consequence of a difference with the president (Sir Joseph Banks) he withdrew in 1784. In 1768 he attended the eldest son of the 4th earl of Aylesford to Oxford as private tutor; and, after receiving through the earl and Bishop Lowth various minor preferments, which by dispensations he combined with his first living, he was installed in 1781 as archdeacon of St Albans. Horsley now entered in earnest upon his famous controversy with Joseph Priestley, who denied that the early Christians held the doctrine of the Trinity. In this controversy, conducted on both sides in the fiercest polemical spirit, Horsley showed the superior learning and ability. His aim was to lessen the influence which the prestige of Priestley's name gave to his views, by indicating inaccuracies in his scholarship and undue haste in his conclusions. For the energy displayed in the contest Horsley was rewarded by Lord Chancellor Thurlow with a prebendal stall at Gloucester; and in 1788 the same patron procured his promotion to the see of St David's. As a bishop, Horsley was energetic both in his diocese, where he strove to better the position of his clergy, and in parliament. The efficient support which he afforded the government was acknowledged by his successive translations to Rochester in 1793, and to St Asaph in 1802. With the bishopric of Rochester he held the deanery of Westminster. He died at Brighton on the 4th of October 1806.

Besides the controversial _Tracts_, which appeared in 1783-1784-1786, and were republished in 1789 and 1812, Horsley's more important works are:--_Apollonii Pergaei inclinationum libri duo_ (1770); _Remarks on the Observation ... for determining the acceleration of the Pendulum in Lat. 70 deg. 51'_ (1774); _Isaaci Newtoni Opera quae extant Omnia_, with a commentary (5 vols. 4to, 1779-1785); _On the Prosodies of the Greek and Latin Languages_ (1796); _Disquisitions on Isaiah xviii._ (1796); _Hosea, translated ... with Notes_ (1801); _Elementary Treatises on ... Mathematics_ (1801); _Euclidis elementorum libri priores XII._ (1802); _Euclidis datorum liber_ (1803); _Virgil's Two Seasons of Honey_, &c. (1805); and papers in the _Philosophical Transactions_ from 1767 to 1776. After his death there appeared--_Sermons_ (1810-1812); _Speeches in Parliament_ (1813); _Book of Psalms, translated with Notes_ (1815); _Biblical Criticism_ (1820); _Collected Theological Works_ (6 vols. 8vo, 1845).

HORSLEY, WILLIAM (1774-1858), English musician, was born on the 15th of November 1774. He became in 1790 the pupil of Theodore Smith, an indifferent musician of the time, who, however, taught him sufficient to obtain in 1794 the position of organist at Ely Chapel, Holborn. This post he resigned in 1798, to become organist at the Asylum for Female Orphans, as assistant to Dr Callcott, with whom he had long been on terms of personal and artistic intimacy, and whose eldest daughter he married. In 1802 he became his friend's successor upon the latter's resignation. Besides holding this appointment he became in 1812 organist of Belgrave Chapel, Halkin Street, and in 1838 of the Charter House. He died on the 12th of June 1858. Horsley's compositions are numerous, and include amongst other instrumental pieces three symphonies for full orchestra. Infinitely more important are his glees, of which he published five books (1801-1807) besides contributing many detached glees and part songs to various collections. His glees, "By Celia's arbour," "O nightingale," "Now the storm begins to lower," and others, are amongst the finest specimens of this peculiarly English class of compositions. Horsley's son Charles Edward (1822-1876), also enjoyed a certain reputation as a musician. He studied in Germany under Hauptmann and Mendelssohn, and on his return to England composed several oratorios and other pieces, none of which had permanent success. In 1808 he emigrated to Australia, and in 1872 went to America; he died in New York.

HORSMAN, EDWARD (1807-1876), English politician, was the son of a well-to-do gentleman of Stirling, and connected on the mother's side with the earls of Stair. He was educated at Rugby and Cambridge, and was called to the Scotch bar in 1832, but then took to politics. He was elected to parliament as a Liberal for Cockermouth in 1836, and represented that constituency till 1852, when he was defeated; in 1853 he was returned for Stroud, and sat there till 1868; and from 1869 till he died he was member for Liskeard. He was a junior lord of the treasury in Lord Melbourne's administration for a few months during 1841, and became prominent for attacking Lord John Russell's ecclesiastical policy in 1847 and subsequent years. In 1855, under Lord Palmerston, he was made chief secretary for Ireland, but resigned in 1857. He gradually took up a position as an independent Liberal, and was well known for his attacks on the Church, and his exposures of various "jobs." But his name is principally connected with his influence over Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke) in 1866 at the time of Mr Gladstone's Reform Bill, to which he and Lowe were hostile; and it was in describing the Lowe-Horsman combination that John Bright spoke of the "Cave of Adullam." Horsman died at Biarritz on the 30th of November 1876.

HORST, the term used In physical geography and geology for a block of the earth's crust that has remained stationary while the land has sunk on either side of it, or has been crushed in a mountain range against it. The Vosges and Black Forest are examples of the former, the Table, Jura and the Dole of the latter result. The word is also applied to those larger areas, such as the Russian plain, Arabia, India and Central South Africa, where the continent remains stable, with horizontal table-land stratification, in distinction to folded regions such as the Eurasian chains.

HORT, FENTON JOHN ANTHONY (1828-1892), English theologian, was born in Dublin on the 23rd of April 1828, the great-grandson of Josiah Hort, archbishop of Tuam in the 18th century. In 1846 he passed from Rugby to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was the contemporary of E. W. Benson, B. F. Westcott and J. B. Lightfoot. The four men became lifelong friends and fellow-workers. In 1850 Hort took his degree, being third in the classical tripos, and in 1852 he became fellow of his college. In 1854, in conjunction with J. E. B. Mayor and Lightfoot, he established the _Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology_, and plunged eagerly into theological and patristic study. He had been brought up in the strictest principles of the Evangelical school, but at Rugby he fell under the influence of Arnold and Tait, and his acquaintance with Maurice and Kingsley finally gave his opinions a direction towards Liberalism. In 1857 he married, and accepted the college living of St Ippolyts, near Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, where he remained for fifteen years. During his residence there he took some part in the discussions on university reform, continued his studies, and wrote essays for various periodicals. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the committee for revising the translation of the New Testament, and in 1871 he delivered the Hulsean lectures before the university. Their title was _The Way, the Truth, and the Life_, but they were not prepared for publication until many years after their delivery. In 1872 he accepted a fellowship and lectureship at Emmanuel College; in 1878 he was made Hulsean professor of divinity, and in 1887 Lady Margaret reader in divinity. In the meantime he had published, with his friend Westcott, an edition of the text of the New Testament. The Revision Committee had very largely accepted this text, even before its publication, as a basis for their translation of the New Testament. The work on its appearance created an immense sensation among scholars, and was vehemently attacked in many quarters, but on the whole it was received as being much the nearest approximation yet made to the original text of the New Testament (see BIBLE: _New Testament_, "Textual Criticism"). The introduction was the work of Hort, and its depth and fulness convinced all who read it that they were under the guidance of a master. Hort died on the 30th of November 1892, worn out by intense mental labour. Next to his Greek Testament his best-known work is _The Christian Ecclesia_ (1897). Other publications are: _Judaistic Christianity_ (1894); _Village Sermons_ (two series); _Cambridge and other Sermons_; _Prolegomena to ... Romans and Ephesians_ (1895); _The Ante-Nicene Fathers_ (1895); and two _Dissertations_, on the reading [Greek: monogenes theos] in John i. 18, and on _The Constantinopolitan and other Eastern Creeds in the Fourth Century_. All are models of exact scholarship and skilful use of materials.

His _Life and Letters_ was edited by his son, Sir Arthur Hort, Bart. (1896).

HORTA, the capital of an administrative district comprising the islands of Pico, Fayal, Flores and Corvo, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Pop. (1900) 6574. Horta is a seaport on the south-east coast of Fayal. It is defended by two castles and a wall, but these fortifications are obsolete. The harbour, a bay 2 m. long and nearly 1 m. broad, affords good anchorage in 5 to 20 fathoms of water, but is dangerous in south-westerly and south-easterly winds. It is the headquarters of profitable whale, tunny, bonito and mullet fisheries. Its exports include sperm-oil, fruit, wine and grain. Between 1897 and 1904 the port annually accommodated about 140 vessels of 220,000 tons, mostly of British or Portuguese nationality.

HORTEN, a seaport of Norway, in Jarlsberg-Laurvik _amt_ (county), beautifully situated on the west bank of the Christiania Fjord, opposite Moss, 38 m. by water and 66 by rail S. of Christiania. Pop. (1900) 8460. It is practically united with Karl-Johansvaern, which is defended by strong fortifications, is the headquarters of the Norwegian fleet, and possesses an arsenal and shipbuilding yards. There are also an observatory and a nautical museum.

HORTENSIUS, QUINTUS (114-50 B.C.), surnamed Hortalus, Roman orator and advocate. At the age of nineteen he made his first speech at the bar, and shortly afterwards successfully defended Nicomedes III. of Bithynia, one of Rome's dependants in the East, who had been deprived of his throne by his brother. From that time his reputation as an advocate was established. As the son-in-law of Q. Lutatius Catulus he was attached to the aristocratic party. During Sulla's ascendancy the courts of law were under the control of the senate, the judges being themselves senators. To this circumstance perhaps, as well as to his own merits, Hortensius may have been indebted for much of his success. Many of his clients were the governors of provinces which they were accused of having plundered. Such men were sure to find themselves brought before a friendly, not to say a corrupt, tribunal, and Hortensius, according to Cicero (_Div. in Caecil._ 7), was not ashamed to avail himself of this advantage. Having served during two campaigns (90-89) in the Social War, he became quaestor in 81, aedile in 75, praetor in 72, and consul in 69. In the year before his consulship he came into collision with Cicero in the case of Verres, and from that time his supremacy at the bar was lost. After 63 Cicero was himself drawn towards the party to which Hortensius belonged. Consequently, in political cases, the two men were often engaged on the same side (e.g. in defence of Rabirius, Murena, Publius Cornelius Sulla, and Milo). After Pompey's return from the East in 61, Hortensius withdrew from public life and devoted himself to his profession. In 50, the year of his death, he successfully defended Appius Claudius Pulcher when accused of treason and corrupt practices by P. Cornelius Dolabella, afterwards Cicero's son-in-law.

Hortensius's speeches are not extant. His oratory, according to Cicero, was of the Asiatic style, a florid rhetoric, better to hear than to read. He had a wonderfully tenacious memory (Cicero, _Brutus_, 88, 95), and could retain every single point in his opponent's argument. His action was highly artificial, and his manner of folding his toga was noted by tragic actors of the day (Macrobius, _Sat._ iii. 13. 4). He also possessed a fine musical voice, which he could skilfully command. The vast wealth he had accumulated he spent on splendid villas, parks, fish-ponds and costly entertainments. He was the first to introduce peacocks as a table delicacy at Rome. He was a great buyer of wine, pictures and works of art. He wrote a treatise on general questions of oratory, erotic poems (Ovid, _Tristia_, ii. 441), and an _Annales_, which gained him considerable reputation as an historian (Vell. Pat. ii. 16. 3).

His daughter HORTENSIA was also a successful orator. In 42 she spoke against the imposition of a special tax on wealthy Roman matrons with such success that part of it was remitted (Quint. _Instit._ i. 1. 6; Val. Max. viii. 3. 3).

In addition to Cicero (_passim_), see Dio Cassius xxxviii. 16, xxxix. 37; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ ix. 81, x. 23, xiv. 17, xxxv. 40; Varro, _R.R._ iii. 13. 17.

HORTENSIUS, QUINTUS, dictator of Rome 286 B.C. When the people, pressed by their patrician creditors, "seceded" to the Janiculum, he was commissioned to put an end to the strife. He passed a law whereby the resolutions of the multitude (_plebiscita_) were made binding on all the citizens, without the approval of the senate being necessary. This was not a mere re-enactment of previous laws. Another law, passed about the same time, which declared the _nundinae_ (market days) to be _dies fasti_ (days on which legal business might be transacted), is also attributed to him. He is said to have died while still dictator.

Aulus Gellius xv. 27; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 15; Macrobius, _Saturnalia_ i. 16; Livy, _Epit._ ii.