A new, complete and universal body, or system of natural history; being a grand, accurate, and extensive display of animated nature; containing accurate descriptions and faithful histories of all the several classes of animals, which inhabit the air, the earth, and the water, in the several parts of the world, comprehending a general and very particular account and description of all kinds of vegetables, fossils, shells, minerals, &c., and a theory of the earth in general / Written by a society of gentlemen ... And published under the immediate inspection of George Henry Millar.

Date:
[1785?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new, complete and universal body, or system of natural history; being a grand, accurate, and extensive display of animated nature; containing accurate descriptions and faithful histories of all the several classes of animals, which inhabit the air, the earth, and the water, in the several parts of the world, comprehending a general and very particular account and description of all kinds of vegetables, fossils, shells, minerals, &c., and a theory of the earth in general / Written by a society of gentlemen ... And published under the immediate inspection of George Henry Millar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/801 (page 11)
    The horfes of India are of a very indifferent kind. Thofe ufed by the grandees of the country, are brought from Arabia and Perfia : they are fed fparingly with hay in the day-time, and at night with boiled peas, mixed with fugar and butter; this nouriffiment ftrengthens and fupports them; otherwife they would foon degenerate. the heat of the climate being againft them. The native horfes of the country are very fin all. Tavernier fays, fome of them are fo little, that a young prince of the Great Mogul, when but feven years old, rode one that fcarce exceeded a grey¬ hound in fize; 2nd one of thefe has been brought over into this country, as a prefent to our queen, that did not exceed nine hands high, and very little larger than a common maftiff. Thofe of the Gold Coafl, as well as thofe of Judea, Guinea, &c. are, like thofe of the Indies, very bad: they carry their heads low; their walk is fo tottering, that one would imagine they were always ready to fall; they would never ftir, if not beat continually; and the greateft part of them are fo low, that the feet of the rider almoft touch the ground ; in fhort, they are moft untra&able creatures, and fit only for foodfor the Negroes, Arabians,Tat tars, and Chinefe. The horfes of China are not fuperior to thofe of India : they are fmall, weak, ill lhaped, and fpiritlefs: thofe of the Corea are not above three feet high, and fo timorous that they cannot be rendered ferviceable in war; it may, therefore, with propriety be faid, that the Tartarian horfes conquered China. Thefe are, indeed, extremely ferviceable in war; and although they are but of a middle fize, they are furprizingly pa¬ tient, vigorous, bold, and fwift. The Tartars live with their horfes nearly in the fame manner as the Ara¬ bians do. When they are about feven or eight months old, the young children mount them, and make them walk and gallop, by turns, a little way : thus they break them by degrees, and oblige them to undergo long fallings, but they are never mounted for racing or hunting, till they are fix or feven years old, and then they make them fupport incredible fatigue, fuch as travelling two or three days together without Hop¬ ping, paffing four or five, without any other food than a handful of grafs every eight hours, and to remain twenty-four hours without drinking. Thefe horfes which appear, and are, in reality, fo rebuff in their own country, become enfeebled, and are foon good for nothing when tranfported to China or the Indies ; but they fucceed better in Perfia and Turkey. The leffer Tartars have alfo a breed of fmall horfes which they let fuch great ftore by, that they are not allowed to fell them to foreigners. There are alfo in Circaffia, and in Mingrelia, many horfes which are even handfomer than thofe of Tartary; and fome much efteemed in the Ukraine, Wallachia, and Poland, but we have no account of their qualities and defefts. Upon the whole, it is certain, that every country that boafts of a fine race of horfes, is indebted to Arabia, their pri¬ maeval feat. Different nations are not agreed, as to the particular fhapes that conftitute the beauties of a horfe. It may not therefore be amifs, to explain the terms, whereby dealers in horfes among ourfelves, denominate the par¬ ticular parts of this noble animal; we fhall likewife add fome remarks, which may enable our readers to form a judgment of the perfections or imperfe£lions of a horfe, and direct him how to chufe a good one. The denominations of the external parts of a horfe are thefe. The hair is, in general, called his coat; but it has different names in feveral parts of the body: the hairs on the under lip are the beard; and thole which grow along the upper part of the neck are called the mane. That part of the neck which is moft arched has the name of the creft, and when it finks, a horfe is faid to be creft fallen. The tuft of hair which grows on the lower part of the hind-leg above the heel, is termed the feet-lock, or fetlock. The hair that grows round over the top of the hoof is the crown, or coronet, and the hair on the eye lids, the eye-lalhes. The body is called the carcafs. The two .... 2 hollows above the eyes, moft remarkable in old horfes, the eye-pits. The mark, if any, that runs down the face, if pointed, is termed blaze, if broad, bald; and where there is a white fpot in the forehead, it Is theftar. The back part of the head that joins to the neck, is the poll. The lips, with the tip of the nofe, forms the muzzle. The flelhy rows that run acrofs the roof of the mouth, are called the bars, and thefe are very remarkable in young horfes. The top of the ffioulder blades, and higheft part of the fpine, at the fetting on of the neck, are the wi¬ thers ; and from the top of this a horfe is meafured _to know its fize. From the withers, to the end of the falfe ribs, are the reins; and next thefe are the loins'. The extremity of the reins above the hip to the tail, is called the croup; the part where the crupper lies, is the channel; the tail is the dock; and the finking of the back, if any, has the name of the fway, or hollow* or low-backed. The hinder part of the belly, next the genitals, is called the flank, and this reaches from the fmall ribs to the haunches. The loofe Ikin that covers the yard, is the fheath, and the belly reaches from this to the brifket. The point from the withers to the top joint of the thigh, enclofing the whole bread on both fides, is called the fhoulder, at which the fore-legs begin ; and the hind part pointing to¬ wards the brifket is the elbow. In the middle part is the knee, to which the fore-leg reaches. The extent from the knee to the paftern, is called the fhank; and the ftrong tendon behind the fhank inferted in the heel, is the back finew. The place where the fhank joins the paftern, is diflinguiffied by the paftern of fetlock joint; and the paflern reaches from the---'lower part of the joint to the foot, and has a joint in the middle to facilitate the motion of the foot, which it diftinguifhes into two parts, namely, the great paftern next the fhank, and the lefs next the foot. The join¬ ing of this laft with the foot, is called the coffin-joint. The hoof is generally denominated the horn, or coffin, becaufe it inclofes the whole foot. The tender part of the hoof next the heel, is the fruffi, and the ball of the foot, the frog; though they fhould be confidered as one. This reaches from the middle part of the foot to the heel; and the foie is the horny part which covers the reft of the bottom of the foot, and adheres to the verge of the hoof, where the nails are driven in, when a horfe is ffiod. The fides meeting on the heel, are called the quarters. The haunches begin at the two bones of the back part of a horfe, which enclofe the loins, and defeend to the ham, or hock. The ftifle is featedin the middle joint of the thigh; and is outwardly that part which jets out from the thigh to¬ wards the belly. The thigh, orgafeoin, begins at the ftifle, and reaches to the bending of the ham or hockt the hock is the bending of the hind leg; and the round knob behind is the heel of the hock, in which the great mailer leader, or tendo Achillis, is inferted. The pat¬ terns and feet are diftinguiffied in the fame manner as in the fore-legs; and that fide of a horfe which we ufually approach, is called-the near fide, and the other the off fide. Hence come the terms of near-foot, and off-foot, near-eye, and off-eye, and fo of the reft. Thefe are the common terms made ufe of by dealers in horfes; but the true ffiape and form of each can only be diftinguiffied by long experience: however, there are fome obvious properties, in which the gene¬ rality of dealers are agreed; marks which dire£t to their choice ; and firft, the marks of the teeth lead to the knowledge of the age. \ One of the moft important things to be known, i» the age of the horfe, and the moft certain knowledge of this is obtained from the teeth. The firft of thefe |' that appear are four, two above and two below, which j are called foal teeth, and may ealily be diftinguiffied ; from others by their whitenefs : the reft come out af¬ terwards till they are twelve in number, fix above and fix below. When a colt is between two years and a | half and three years old, he calls four of thefe teeth, two above and two below. Thefe are called nippers or i