New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-06-14
IN THE EQUINE WORLD.
Horses Returning to Fa0or-Ad-
pance from Hippo'ion to Herm's'

New-York seems to be coming back 10 Ihe
horse after short period of inhdellty IN laEo'
of mechanical steeds. Although autolhopllee d"
multiplying like guinea pigs, and puff or snort
or rumble on every hand, the wave OF equine
popularity never crested higher.
There is much evidence to crush tnose II"
believe that the horse has seen and passed his
day Probably % per cent OF all New oiNei
are talking in the lingo Of the racetrack anu
scannine, the handicaps daily. few weeks ago
. wealthy Young horseman paid S0o,OVo LOT
Ier,,is a four-year-old. This is said to be the
highest price ever paid for a racer in training.
The price Of ordinary work and road horses Is
increasing in value at phenomenal rate oiiy
the perfection OF flying machine can give 'lie
horse q serious setback, and that would De oiiiy
temporary.
The popularity of the horse is shown III oou
xavs and places The ZOOS of the world lately
spent thousands to import new species OF "il'
horses from Arabia, and two of them came 10
New-York The Museum of Natural HISTORY
has long been studying the ancestry OF 'i'e
horse and lately discovered the bones OF me
missing link in the three toed hipparlon IN the
Niobrara beds of South Dakota. Ihe hummer
of women who prosecute drivers Tor cfueiS ~
work horses seems to be increasing, 'ccoruliis
to complaints and convictions, and the NUMBER
of educated horses in the hospital fire ana pc
lice department stables is endless.
IT is long step from the three toed hip
marion to the fleet hoofed Hermis, which may
be said to represent the horse perfection Of to-
dav but scientists up at the museum go back
still further.
Dr. William D. Mathew, of the curators
and an equine fossil specialist, believes that the
remotest ancestor of the horse was no larger
than a cat Originally he says, the horse mad
four or five toes, whereas it has now only one
Indeed the hoof really is elongated. enlarged
toenail belonging to the middle toe
The museum has a mounted specimen when
comes into the ancestry as a slightly higher
development and which is about the size OF a
small dog The fore feet have four toes and
the hind feet three. There several other
gradations before one comes to the newly dis
covered hipparion.
William c. Whitney provided for the eXpedi-
ton which was sent out last year under TIE
leadership Of J. ". Gidiey. The season was
nearly over before the remains of the three
toel herd were discovered. These earlier horses
differed from those of to-day in having shorter
skulls deeper jaws, shorter legs and smaller
feet in proportion to their bodies. The second
snd third toes represented in the horses of
to-day by splint bones one on each side, in the
rear of the cannon bone. They are not visible
on the surface, but well known to horsemen
for their tendency to go wrong and make horses
lame.
The evolution of the horse" says DR. Mathew.
"adapting it to live the dry plains, probably
went hand in hand with the evolution of the
plains themselves. At the commencement Of tn,
age of mammals (the Tertiary period) the west
ern part of the North American Continent was
by no means high above sea level as now.
Great parts of it had but recently emerged
from the shallow ocean which overspread much