So that if it should be asked why a handsome
coach Horse, with as much beauty, length, and proportion as a
foreign Horse, will not act with the same velocity and
perseverance, nothing will be more easily answered, without
appealing to blood; because we shall find the powers of acting in
a foreign Horse much more prevalent, and more equal to the weight
of his body, than the powers of acting in a coach Horse: for
whoever has been curious enough to examine the mechanism of
different Horses by dissection, will find the tendon of the leg in
a foreign Hose is much larger than in any other Horse, whose leg
is of the same dimensions; and as the external texture of a
foreign Horse is much finer than of any other, so the foreign
Horse must necessarily have the greatest strength and perseverance
in acting, because the muscular power of two Horses (whose
dimensions are the same) will be the greatest in that Horse, whose
texture is the finest.
Let us next inquire what information we can gather from the
science of Anatomy, concerning the laws of motion: it teaches us,
that the force and power of a muscle consists in the number of
fibres of which it is composed; and that the velocity and motion
of a muscle consists in the length and extent of its fibres. Let
us compare this doctrine with the language of the jockey: he tells
us, if a Horse has not length, he will be slow; and if made to
slender, he will not be able to bring his weight through.
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