Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-01-17

Frederic A Lucas, in McClure's
Magazine, presents in popular way
the scientific evidence going to show
the descent of the horse from little
animal with four toes and little bigger
than fox. The family records of the
horse reach backward for something
like 100000 years.
The early horse-We may call him
SO by courtesy, although he was then
far from being true hOrse-Was an
Insignificant little creature, apparently
far less likely to succeed in life's
race than his bulky competitors, and
yet, by making the most of their OPP
portunities, his descendants have sur
yiVed, while most of theirs have drop
ped by the wayside; and finally, by
the aid of man. the horse has become
spread over the length and breadth
of the habitable globe.
Now right here it may be asked.
How do we know that the little hyra-
cOthere was the prOgenitor of the
horse, and how can it be shown that
there is any bond of kinship be-
French Pe:cheron? There is only one
way in which we can obtain this
knowledge, and but one method by
which the relationship can be shown,
and that is by collecting the fossil re-
mains of animals long extinct and
comparing them with the bones of the
recent horse, a branch of science
known as Paleontology. 1t has taken
very long time to gather the neces-
sary evidence, and it has taken vast
amount of hard work in our western
territories, for the country that is as
hot as Hades, Watered by stagnant
alkali pools, is almost invariably the
richest in fossils" Likewise it has
called for the expenditure of much
time and more patience to put to-
gether some OF this petrifed evidence,
tragmentary in every sense OF the
word, and get it into such shape that
it could be handled by the anatomist
Still, the work has been done, and
link by link, the chain has been con
structed that unites the horse of today
with the horse of very many yester-
days.
Remains in Remote Ages.
The first links in this chain are the
remains of the bronze age and those
found among the ruins of the ancient
Swiss lake dwellings,; but earlier still
than these are the bones of horses
found abundantly in northern Europe,
Asia and America. The individual
bones and teeth of some of these
horses are scarcely distinguishable
from those Of today, a fact noted in
the name, Equus fraternus, applied
TO one species, and when the teeth
are found it is at times practically
impossible to say whether they belong
to Il fossile horse or to a modern ami
NAL But when enough scattered
bones are gathered to make a fairly
complete skeleton it becomes evident
that the fossil horse had a proportion
ately larger head and smaller feet
than his existing relative, and that he
was a little more like an ass or zebra,
for the latter, despite his gay coat, is a
near relative of the loWly ass More
over, primitive man made sketches of
the primitive horse, just as he did of
the mammoth, and these indicate that
the horse of those days was something
like an oyergroWn Shetland pony, low
and heavily built, large-headed and
rou2h-COated. For the old caVe-dWell-
ers of Europe were intimately ac-
quainted with the prehistoric horses,
using them for food, as they did al
most every animal that fell beneath
their flint arrows and stone axes.
And if one may judge from the abund-
.ance of bones, the horses must have
Toamed about in bands, just as the
horses escaped from civilization roam
or have roamed, over the pampas OF
South America and the prairies of the
west.
The horse was just as abundant in
North America in Pleistocene time as
in Europe; but there is no evidence
to show that it was contemporary with
early man III North America, and
even were this the case, it is generally
believed that long before the discov
y
peared.
DomestIcated in Europe.
Long before the dawn of history the
horse was domesticated in Europe
and Caesar found the Germans, anC
even the old Britons, using wal
chariots drawn by horses-for the frs
use man seems to have made of the
horse was to aid him in killing of
his fellow man, and not until com
Daratively modern times was the ami
NAL employed in the peaceful arts O
agriculture. The immediate predeces
sors of these horses were consider
ably smaller, being about the size ant
build of a pony, but they were yer,
much like horse in structure, saw
that the teeth were shorter. AS the
lived during Pliocene times, they hav
been named "Pliohippus"
Going back into the past a ste
further, though a pretty long step
We reckon by years, we come upon
number of animals very much Xix
norses, save for certain cranial pt
culiarities and the fact that they ha
three toes on each foot, while tn
horse, as everyone knows, has bu
one toe. Now, if we glance at tn
skeleton of horse we will see o
either side of the common bone. i
the same situation as the uppe
part Of the little toes of the hippoth,
rum, as these three-toed horses al
called, long slender bone, termed b
veterinarians the splint bone. and