Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-04-27
ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE.
One of the oldest as Wei as Most Va

1
ued of Animal Species.
The earliest written history has ref
erences to the horse, and there is every
reason to believe the animSl existed
before man learned TO pen his thoughts
and experiences. AS early as the pre-
historic period, as we infer from the
rude drawings of the animal by its
first masters, the European horse was
uniformly colored--probably dun. with
dark name, tail and legs. 1t was a
small, heavy-headed brute, with rough.
scrubby name and tail, and no trace in
the skull of the depression for the face
gland From this stock are descended
the carthorses and the ordinary breeds
of western Europe
The blood horse, or thoroughbred, on
the other hand, is a later importation
into Europe, either from Arabia, by
way of Greece and ITALY, or, as some
think, from north Africa, the home of
the barb 1t has been supposed that
these eastern horses are the descend
ants of an earlier domestieation of the
same stock. 1 have, however, recently
shown the existence in an Indian do
mesticated horse skull, as we'll as In
| the skull of the race horse Ben dor.
of a distinct trace of the depression
for a face gland, and the suggestion
consequently presents Itself that the
eastern horses Inclusive of thorough
breds) are descended from equus sival-
ensis. in which the face gland MY
still have been functional.
The thoroughbred, as cotrasted
with the carthorse. exhibits he ex-
IRENE limit of specialization If which
the equine stock is capable, this being
displayed not only by the grGcefuIness
and beauty of its bodily form, and the
relatively small size of its head and
ears, but likewise by the greater rela-
| tive length of the bones of fhe lower
segments of the limbs. as compared
with the upper ones, namely, the
humerus in the fore limb and the
femur In the hind pair. In this respect,
therefore, the blood hoRse departs the
| farthest of all the tribe from its taper
like ancestors, as II does in its height
at the shoulder.
But it is not only in its skeleton that
the horse exhibits traces of It's aff1n-
ity with its predecess ors. On the hinder
part of the foot, little above the hoof.
ia a structure known to veterinarians
as the "ergot." This, which apparently
attains its greatest development In
Grevy's zebra of Somaliland, CORE
spends with one of the footpads of the
tapir. and points to time when the
ancestral horses applied the under sur
face of the fetIock to the ground. More
rmarkable still are the callosiues,
"chestnutse or "castors' found on tie
inner sides Of both limbs In the horse
Inclusive OF the Mongolian wild
ponIes). but only on the forelegs OF
other species, which are likewise rudi-
mentary, or vestIgial structures.
Although 1t has been suggested that
these also represent footpads with
which they by no means agree in posi-
tiop1. 1t is far more probable that they
are really remnants of glands (similar
10 those found in somewhat the same
situation in the hind limbs of many
deer and the front ones of many ante
lones, and that their disappearance
ms functional organs was approximate
Ilv coiucident with that Of the loss OF
the face glands of the hipparions
owing to both being no longer re
ouired. Even now, IL is said, these
callosities, when freshly cut exude
bumor the smell of which will cause 9
horse TO follow for almost any als
lance.