Part 108

Bill short, straight, conical, and depressed; the ridge rounded; mandibles of equal length, sharp, and not notched; nostrils at the sides of the base, naked and partly closed by a membrane; tongue long, worm-shaped, and armed at the point with a horny substance; feet with two toes before, and two behind, the fore ones joined at their base; tail with ten soft and flexible feathers; wings of middle length, the first quill shorter than the second, which is the longest in the wing.—_Montagu._

ZINC, _s._ A semi-metal of a brilliant white colour, approaching to blue.

ZOOLOGY, _s._ A treatise concerning living creatures.

_Zoological Description of the Horse._—The horse belongs to the _division vertebrated_, because he has a cranium or skull, and a spine or range of vertebræ proceeding from it.

The vertebrated animals, however, are very numerous. They include man, quadrupeds of all kinds, birds, fishes, and many reptiles. We look out then for some subdivision, and a very simple line of distinction is soon presented. Some of these vertebrated animals have _mammæ_, or teats, with which the females suckle their young. The human female has two, the mare two, the cow four, the bitch ten or twelve, and the sow more than twelve.

This _class_ of vertebrated animals, having mammæ or teats, is called _mammalia_, and the horse belongs to the division _vertebrata_, and the class _mammalia_.

The class mammalia is still exceedingly large, and we must again subdivide it. It is stated (Library of Entertaining Knowledge, vol. i. p. 13) that “this class of quadrupeds, or mammiferous quadrupeds, admits of a division into two _Tribes_.

“1. Those whose extremities are divided into fingers or toes, scientifically called _unguiculata_, from the Latin word for _nail_; and 2, Those whose extremities are hoofed, scientifically called _ungulata_, from the Latin word for _hoof_.

“The extremities of the first are armed with claws or nails, which enable them to grasp, to climb, or to burrow. The extremities of the second tribe are employed merely to support and move the body.”

The extremities of the horse are covered with a hoof, by which the body is supported, and with which he cannot grasp any thing, and therefore he belongs to the tribe ungulata, or hoofed.

But there is a great variety of hoofed animals. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the swine, the horse, the sheep, the deer, and many others, are ungulated or hoofed; they admit, however, of an easy division. Some of them masticate, or chew their food, and it is immediately received into the stomach and digested; but in others, the food, previous to digestion, undergoes a very singular process. It is returned to the mouth to be re-masticated, or chewed again. These are called ruminantia, or ruminants, from the food being returned, from one of the stomachs (for they have four) called the rumen or paunch, to be chewed again.

The ungulata that do not ruminate are somewhat improperly called pachydermata, from the thickness of their skins. The horse does not ruminate, and therefore belongs to the order pachydermata.

The pachydermata who have only one toe, belong to the family solipeda—single-footed. Therefore the horse ranks under the division vertebrata; the class mammalia—the tribe ungulata—the order pachydermata—and the family solipeda.—_The Horse._

ZOOTOMIST, _s._ A dissector of the bodies of beasts.

ZOOTOMY, _s._ Dissection of the bodies of beasts.

APPENDIX.

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COACH-HORSE, _s._ A horse used for coaches.

This animal has fully shared in the progress of improvement, and is as different from what he was fifty years ago as it is possible to conceive. The clumsy-barrelled, cloddy-shouldered, round-legged, black family horse, neither a coach nor a dray-horse, but something between both, as fat as an ox, and, with all his pride and prancing at first starting, not equal to more than six miles an hour, and knocking-up with one hard day’s work, is no more seen; and we have, instead of him, an animal as tall, deep-chested, rising in the withers, slanting in the shoulders, flat in the legs, with even more strength, and with treble the speed.

There is a great deal of deception, however, even in the best of these improved coach-horses. They prance it nobly through the streets; and they have more work in them than the old clumsy, sluggish breed; but they have not the endurance that could be wished; and a pair of poor post-horses would, at the end of the second day, beat them hollow.

The knee-action, and high lifting of the feet, in the carriage-horse is deemed an excellence, because it adds to the grandeur of his appearance; but, as has already been stated, it is necessarily accompanied by much wear and tear of the legs and feet, and this is very soon apparent.

The principal points in the coach-horse are substance well placed, a deep and well-proportioned body, bone under the knee, and sound, open, tough feet.

The origin of the better kind of coach-horse is the Cleveland-bay, confined principally to Yorkshire and Durham, with, perhaps, Lincolnshire on one side, and Northumberland on the other, but difficult to meet with pure in either county. The Cleveland mare is crossed by a three-fourth, or thoroughbred horse of sufficient substance and height, and the produce is the coach-horse most in repute, with his arched crest and high action. From the thorough-bred of sufficient height, but not of so much substance, we obtain the four-in-hand, and superior curricle-horse.

From less height and more substance, we have the hunter and better sort of hackney; and, from the half-bred, we derive the machiner, the poster, and the common carriage-horse; indeed, Cleveland, and the Vale of Pickering, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, may be considered as the most decided breeding country in England for coach-horses, hunters, and hackneys. The coach-horse is nothing more than a tall, strong, over-sized hunter. The hackney has many of the qualities of the hunter on a small scale.

How far we are carrying supposed improvement too far, and sacrificing strength and usefulness to speed, is a question not difficult to resolve. The rage for rapid travelling is the bane of the post-master, the destruction of the horse, and a disgrace to the English character.

There is no truth so easily proved, or so painfully felt by the post-master, at least in his pocket, as that it is the pace that kills. A horse at a dead pull, or at the beginning of his pull, is enabled, by the force of his muscles, to throw a certain weight into the collar. If he walk four miles in the hour, some part of that muscular energy must be expended in the act of walking; and, consequently, the power of drawing must be proportionally diminished. If he trot eight miles in the hour, more animal power is expended in the trot, and less remains for the draught; but the draught continues the same, and, to enable him to accomplish his work, he must tax his energies to a degree that is cruel in itself, and that must speedily wear him out.

Let it be supposed—what every horse cannot accomplish—that he shall be able, by fair exertion and without distress, to throw, at a dead pull, a weight into his collar, or exert a force equal to two hundred and sixteen pounds; or, in other words, let him be able to draw a load which requires a force of two hundred and sixteen pounds to move. Let him next walk at the rate of four miles in an hour; what force will he then be able to employ? We have taken away some to assist him in walking, and we have left him only ninety-six pounds, being not half of that which he could exert when he began his pull. He shall quicken his pace to six miles an hour—more energy must be exerted to carry him over this additional ground. How much has he remaining to apply to the weight behind him? Fifty-four pounds only. We will make the six miles an hour ten; for it seems now to be the fashion for the fast coach, and for almost every coach, and every vehicle to attempt this pace. How stands the account with the poor beast? We have left him a power equal to thirty-two pounds only to be employed for the purpose of draught.

The load which a horse can draw is about fifteen times greater than the power exerted, supposing the road to be hard and level, and the carriage to run with little friction; and the horse, which at starting, can throw into the collar a weight or force equal to two hundred and sixteen pounds, will draw a load of three thousand two hundred. Let him, however, be urged on at the rate of ten miles in the hour—deduct the power used in swiftness of pace from the sum total of that which he possesses, and what remains? not a sixth part—not that which is equal to a quarter of a ton—or, if it be a stage-coach, the energy exerted in draught by the four horses will not be equal to a ton.

The coach, and its passengers and its luggage, weigh more than this, and the whole is still drawn on, and must be so. Whence comes the power? From the over-strained exertion, the injury, the torture, the destruction of the horse. That which is true of the coach-horse, is equally true of every other. Let each reader apply it to his own animal, and act as humanity and interest dictate.

Many a horse used on our public roads is unable to throw all his natural power or weight into the collar. He is tender-footed—lame; but he is bought at little price, and he is worked on the brutal and abominable principle, that he may be “whipped sound.” And so apparently he is. At first he sadly halts; but, urged by the torture of the lash, he acquires a peculiar habit of going. The faulty limb appears to keep pace with the others, but no stress or labour is thrown upon it, and he gradually contrives to make the sound limbs perform among them all the duties of the unsound one; and thus he is barbarously “whipped sound,” and cruelty is undeservedly rewarded. After all, however, what has been done? Three legs are made to do that which was almost too hard a task for four. Then they must be most injuriously strained, and soon worn out, and the general power of the animal must be rapidly exhausted, and, at no great distance of time, exhaustion and death release him from his merciless persecutors.

It is said that between Glasgow and Edinburgh, a carrier in a single horse-cart, weighing about seven hundred weight, will take a load of a ton, and at the rate of twenty-two miles in a day. The Normandy carriers travel with a team of four horses, and from fourteen to twenty-two miles in a day, with a load of ninety hundred weight.

An unparalleled instance of the power of a horse when assisted by art, was shown near Croydon. The Surrey iron rail-way being completed, a wager was laid by two gentlemen, that a common horse could draw thirty-six tons for six miles along the road, and that he should draw his weight from a dead pull, as well as turn it round the occasional windings of the road. A numerous party of gentlemen assembled near Merstham to see this extraordinary triumph of art. Twelve wagons loaded with stones, each wagon weighing above three tons, were chained together, and a horse, taken promiscuously from the timber cart of Mr. Harwood, was yoked to the train. He started from the Fox public-house, near Merstham, and drew the immense chain of wagons, with apparent ease, almost to the turnpike at Croydon, a distance of six miles, in one hour and forty-one minutes, which is nearly at the rate of four miles an hour. In the course of the journey he stopped four times, to show that it was not by any advantage of descent that this power was acquired; and after each stoppage he again drew off the chain of wagons with great ease. Mr. Banks, who had wagered on the power of the horse, then desired that four more loaded wagons should be added to the cavalcade, with which the same horse set off again with undiminished pace. Still further to show the effect of the rail-way in facilitating motion, he directed the attending workmen, to the number of fifty, to mount on the wagons, and the horse proceeded without the least distress; and, in truth, there appeared to be scarcely any limitation to the power of his draught. After this trial the wagons were taken to the weighing-machine, and it appeared that the whole weight was as follows:—

TON. CWT. QR. 12 Wagons first linked together 38 4 2 4 Ditto, afterwards attached 13 2 0 Supposed weight of 50 labourers 4 0 0 —————————————— 55 6 2 —_The Horse._

FERRET, _s._ A small animal of prey.

The ferret has a longer and thinner body, a narrower head, and a sharper snout than the polecat. It has not the same sagacity in providing its subsistence, and unless taken care of and nourished in the house, it cannot even exist, at least in our climates, for those which have been lost in the burrows of rabbits have never multiplied, but most probably perished by the severity of the winter. The ferret also, like other domesticated animals, varies in colour, and is as common in hot countries as the polecat is scarce. The female is conspicuously smaller than the male; and when in season, Gesner says, she has even been known to die if her desires were not gratified. They are reared in casks or chests, where it is usual to furnish them with beds of flax. They sleep most perpetually, but no sooner are they awake than they eagerly seek for food, which consists of bran, bread, milk, &c. The females bring forth twice a year, and go six weeks with their young. Some of them eat their young almost as soon as they are brought forth, are immediately in season again, and then have three litters in the year, each of which consists of from five to nine.

This animal is by nature a mortal enemy to the rabbit. If even a dead one is presented to a young ferret, although he have never seen a rabbit before, he flies at and tears it with fury: but if it be alive, he seizes it by the nose or throat, and sucks its blood. When let into the burrows of rabbits, it is necessary to muzzle him, that he may not kill them in their holes, but only oblige them to run out, that they may be entrapped in the nets; besides, if he is suffered to go in unmuzzled, there is great danger of his being lost; for having sucked the blood of the rabbit, he will fall asleep; and smoking the hole is not always a successful expedient to bring him back, because as the burrows frequently communicate with each other, he is apt to be the more bewildered the more he is surrounded with smoke. The ferret is also made use of by boys, in searching for birds’ nests in the holes of walls or trees.

Strabo says, the ferret was brought from Africa into Spain; which does not appear void of foundation, as Spain is the native climate of rabbits, and the country where formerly these animals most abounded. It is probable, therefore, that the rabbits having increased so much as to become incommodious, the ferret was introduced to diminish them, instead of encouraging the race of polecats, from which no advantage could have accrued but the death of the rabbit, whereas by the ferret some benefit is obtained by the hunter. The ferret, though easily tamed and rendered docile, is exceedingly irascible; he has always an ill smell, but more so when heated or irritated. He has lively but inflamed eyes; all his movements are quick, and is besides so strong, that he will easily master a rabbit three or four times as big as himself.—_Buffon._

FISH, GOLD AND SILVER, _s._

When I happen to visit a family where gold and silver fishes are kept in a glass bowl, I am always pleased with the occurrence, because it offers me an opportunity of observing the actions and propensities of those beings with whom we can be little acquainted in their natural state. Not long since I spent a fortnight at the house of a friend where there was such a vivary, to which I paid no small attention, taking every occasion to remark what passed within its narrow limits. It was here that I first observed the manner in which fishes die. As soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower and lower, and it stands as it were on its head; till, getting weaker, and losing all poise, the tail turns over, and at last it floats on the surface of the water with its belly uppermost. The reason why fishes, when dead, swim in that manner is very obvious; because, when the body is no longer balanced by the fins of the belly, the broad muscular back preponderates by its own gravity, and turns the belly uppermost, as lighter from its being a cavity, and because it contains the swimming-bladders, which contribute to render it buoyant. Some that delight in gold and silver fishes have adopted a notion that they need no aliment. True it is that they will subsist for a long time without any apparent food but what they can collect from pure water frequently changed; yet they must draw some support from animalcula, and other nourishment supplied by the water; because, though they seem to eat nothing, yet the consequences of eating often drop from them. That they are best pleased with such jejune diet may easily be confuted, since if you toss them crumbs, they will seize them with great readiness, not to say greediness: however, bread should be given sparingly, lest, turning sour, it corrupt the water. They will also feed on the water-plant called duck’s meat (_Lemna_), and also on small fry.

When they want to move a little they gently protrude themselves with their _pinnæ pectorales_; but it is with their strong muscular tails only that they and all fishes shoot along with such inconceivable rapidity. It has been said that the eyes of fishes are immoveable: but these apparently turn them forward or backward in their sockets as their occasions require. They take little notice of a lighted candle, though applied close to their heads, but flounce and seem much frightened by a sudden stroke of the hand against the support whereon the bowl is hung; especially when they have been motionless, and are perhaps asleep. As fishes have no eyelids, it is not easy to discern when they are sleeping or not, because their eyes are always open.

Nothing can be more amusing than a glass bowl containing such fishes: the double refractions of the glass and water represent them, when moving, in a shifting and changeable variety of dimensions, shades, and colours, while the two mediums, assisted by the concavo-convex shape of the vessel, magnify and distort them vastly; not to mention that the introduction of another element and its inhabitants into our parlours engages the fancy in a very agreeable manner.

Gold and silver fishes, though originally natives of China and Japan, yet are become so well reconciled to our climate as to thrive and multiply very fast in our ponds and stews. Linnæus ranks this species of fish under the genus of _Cyprinus_, or carp, and calls it _Cyprinus auratus_.—_White’s Selborne._

QUITTER, _s._ A disease in horses.

This is a disease of the foot, originating in a bruise or tread upon the coronet, or thin parts of the hoof. Superficial injuries on the coronet are often inflicted by the horse scratching himself with the opposite heel. But the bruise which causes quitter is of a more serious nature, and is inflicted by the horse stepping with great force upon the higher part of the inside of the foot, in endeavouring to save himself from slipping; and from this it is that the disorder generally or almost always takes place in winter, when the roads are slippery. It is well known that smiths, and the most ignorant of farriers, often succeed in their treatment of this disorder, and that veterinary surgeons often fail. The cause is, that they are not sufficiently attentive to such cases, and do not follow up the dressing as it is necessary to do, in order to get at the bottom of the injury. In order to cure a quitter effectually, let the following directions be carefully attended to.

Ascertain carefully, by means of a probe, the direction and extent of the sinuses, or pipes, as they are termed, then let them be completely filled with sublimate.

To do this effectually, the sublimate must be wrapped up in small pieces of whitey-brown paper, and introduced by very small portions at a time, so that they may be forced, as near as possible, to the bottom of the sinus. But however carefully this may be done, the sinuses are always so crooked or winding, that the first dressing can seldom be got to the bottom of them. In six or seven days a large slough or core will come out, when the dressing has been properly applied; and as soon as this has taken place, it may be necessary to dress in the same manner as at first; and even this must be repeated if the bottom of the disease is not found, and that generally is the lateral cartilage. Nothing more is necessary after this than to keep the sinus filled with lint, dipped in friar’s balsam, taking care to introduce it quite to the bottom every time of dressing. The sinus will thus be gradually filled up and healed. Quitters are sometimes cured by syringing the part, after it has been cored out, with sublimate. For this purpose a tube is forced into the wound, so as to reach the bottom, and through it a strong solution of blue vitriol, or tincture of myrrh, is injected. When these means fail, the foul cartilage, or bone, may be scraped by a very small chisel or gouge, or other more convenient instrument. I have seen quitters cured, or rather dried up, merely by dressing with tincture of myrrh, after coring it out with sublimate. The opening has often remained, and appeared to have become horny within, so that no inconvenience was felt from it. Another method of curing quitter is one commonly practised by farriers or shoeing smiths, and is called boring. This is done by pasting a red-hot iron, of a suitable size and form, to the bottom of the sinus, and then filling it with sublimate, or strong sublimate ointment. Sometimes another opening is made through the sound parts, at a little distance from the quitter, but in a slanting direction, so as to communicate with the quitter: this also is filled with sublimate ointment.

When much pain and swelling take place after the operation, the foot may be wrapped in a large poultice. After the cure of a bad quitter there is often a permanent defect on that side of the hoof, which is named a false quarter; that is, the new shoot of horn that grows down is imperfect, depressed, of a light colour, and is apt to split, and become a sand crack. When a horse receives a wound or bruise on the foot or coronet, by treading upon it, or by other means, the most likely method of preventing a quitter is to bathe the wound or bruise with a strong stimulant, such as tincture of myrrh, friar’s balsam, spirit of turpentine, or camphorated spirit. This seems to deaden the sensibility of the bruised or wounded nerves, and thereby prevent inflammation more effectually than a poultice. Should inflammation take place, however, afterwards, a poultice should be applied.—_White._

RACE, DONCASTER, for the Great St. Leger Stakes, 1832, of which our Frontispiece, drawn by POLLARD, expressly for this work, is a correct representation.

The following is the account given in the Sporting Magazine for that year:—