The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-12-22
THE PACIFIC
SATURDAY. DECEMBER %.
America, the True Home of the Horse.

1V luz 44O4AO VI SAO u
Hipp0phiiSts, or lovers of the horse, if we
may coin the word from the old Greek, would be
highly interested, We think, by the perusal of
some very singular remarks On the origin and
native country Of the horse, which appears in a
scientific article from the pen of the celebrated
palaontologist o. c.. Marsh, in the November
number Of the American Journal of Science and
Arts. The article in question is entitled In
PRODUCTION and succession of Vertebrate life IN
America and formed an address delivered by
the writer before the American Association for
the advancement of science at Nashville, Tennes-
see, on August Both, 1877. The distinguished
pal9ontOlogist successfully discusses all the
known forms of vertebrates, that is, plain English,
all animals having a backbone or spine, which
have ever been known to exist in times past or
present on the American continent. Such
knowledge is mainly obtained by the study of
fossils consisting of the petrifed bones and
organic remains of vertebrate animals of periods
long past, and such researches are greatly aided
by the discoveries of biologists. In order the
better to understand Mr.. Marsh's remarks on the
Oldest representatives of the horse, we may ex-
plain that the terms '' Eocene, :" - Miocene'' and
- Pliocene,'' refer to the first, second and third
divisions of the geological terteary period, distin-
guished by the organic remains in the earth's
strata, : of a very ancient fauna Canimals) which
occupied this continent (America) millions of
years ago." according to Mr.. Marsh. With
these Introductory remarks, We give our 'horsey"
readers the following curious account of the ORR
ginal horse, and its successive developments, as
set forth by MIR. Marsh's scientific researches =
When a student in Germany some twelve
years ago, l heard a world-renoWned Professor of
Zoology grayely informed his pupils that the
Horse was a gift of the Old World to the New,
and was entirely unknown in America until in
troduced by the Spaniards. After the lecture, l
asked him whether no earlier remains of horses
had been found on this Continent, and was told
in reply that the reports to that effect were too
unsatisfactory to be presented as facts in science.
This remark led me, on my return, to examine
the subject myself, aud l have since unearthed.
with my own hands, not less than thirty distinct
species of the horse tribe, in the Tertiary depos-
its of the West alone and it is now, l think
generally admitted that America IS, after all, the
true home of the Horse.
l can offer you no better illustration than this
of the advance vertebrate paleontology has made
during the last decade, or of the important con-
tributions to this progress which our Rocky
Mountain region has supplied.
The Oldest representative Of the horse, at pres
ent known, is the diminutive EOhippus from the
lower Eocene. Several species have been found,
all about the size of a fox. Like most of the
early mammals, these Ungulates had forty-four
teeth, the molars with short crowns, and quite
distinct in form from the premolars. The uIna
and the fbula were entire and distinct, and there
were four well developed toes and a rudiment of
another on the fore feet, and three toes behind.
In the structure of the feet, and in the teeth, the
EOhippuS indicates unmIstakably that the direct
ancestral line to the modern horse has already
so m tod from tho nthar pariSSoIa ofvloc In tho
next higher division of the Eocene, another
genus (OrOhippuS) makes its appearance, repIac-
ing EohippuS, and showing a greater, although
still distant, resemblance to the Equine type. The
rudimentary first digit of the fore foot has dlsap-
peared, and the last premola has gone over to the
molar series. OrOhippus was but little larger
than EohippuS, and in most other respects very
similar. Several species have been found in the
same horizon with Dinocerds, and others lived
during the upper Eocene with DipiacodOn, but
none later.
Near the base of the Miocene, in the Bronto-
therium beds, we find a third closely allied genus,
MeSOhippuS, which is about as large as a sheep,
and one stage nearer the horse. There are only
three toes and a rudimentary splint bone on the
fore feet, and three toes behind. Two of the
premolar teeth are quite like the molars. The
ulna is no longer distinct, or the fbula entire,
and other characters show clearly that the transit
ton is advancing. In the upper Miocene, Meso-
hppuS is not found, but in it's place a fourth
IOIm, 1IlOHi ppuS, continues the line. 1DlS genus
is near the Anchtheriunl of Europe, but presents
several important differences. The three toes in
each foot are more nearly of a size, and a rudi-
ment of the fifth metacarpal bone is retained.
All the known species of this genus are larger
than those OF MehoSippuS, and some pass above
the Miocene.
The genus PrOtOhippus of the lower Pliocene,
is yet more equine, and some of its species equaled
the ass in size. There are still three toes on each
foot, but only the middle one, corresponding
to the single toe of the horse, comes to the
ground. This genus resembles most nearly the
Hipp0rion of Europe. In the Pliocene, we have
the last stage of the series before reaching the
horse, in the genus PHohippuS, which has lost
the small hoOfets, and in other respects is very
equine. Only in the upper Pliocene, does the
true EquuS, appear, and complete the genealOgy
of the Horse, which in the POst-Tertiary roamed
over the whole of North and South America,
and soon after became extinct. This occurred
long before the discovery of the Continent by
Europeans, and no satisfactory reason for the
extinction has yet been given. Besides the char
acters | have mentioned, there are many others,
in the skeleton, skull, teeth, and brain of the
forty or more intermediate species, which show
that the transition from the Eocene Eohippus
to the modern EquuS, has taken place in the
order indicated, and L believe the specimens now
at New Haven will demonstrate the fact to any
anatOmist."
To CLEAR THE CoMPLExIoN.-Mr. Archdeacon
says. in his Kitchen Cabinet" that all that is nee
essary TO clear the complexion is to take a tea
spoonful of powdered charcoal, well mixed in
with water or honey, for three nights in succession,
and then take a seidlitz powder, or citrate of mag
nesia, or common salts, to remove the charcoal,
which will remain a mass of poisons, with all the
impurities which it has absorbed. He considers
magnesia the best of the three named aperients.
This purifying process should be repeated every
three months. Eat plenty of tomatoes, figs, and
fruits.
An INTERESTING lecture was lately delivered in
London on " The social condition of women in South
ern India,'' by Lady Anna Gore-Langton, sister to