[1] The average number of times the brain is heavier than the spinal cord, which is a fair measure of intelligence in certain animals, is as follows:—
| In man——33.00 | |||
| In dog | 5.14 | In pig | 2.30 |
| In cat | 3.75 | In horse | 2.27 |
| In ass | 2.40 | In ox | 2.18 |
CHAPTER II
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE
It is a curious phase of the history of the horse in this country that the ancestors of the horse once lived in this country in large numbers, and then entirely disappeared. The ancestry of the horse has been traced back some three millions of years, and through that period practically every step of change, from the little five-toed whippetlike animal, to the Percheron or thoroughbred of to-day, can be illustrated by actual fossil remains.
The most complete collection of fossil remains of the horse, and the best illustrations of the different phases of his development, anywhere in the world, are in our Museum of Natural History in New York.
When the remains of the prehistoric horse were first discovered, so little was known on the subject, that the great naturalist, Richard Owen, called him the Hyracotherium or "Hyrax-like Beast," referring to the coney of Scripture, little suspecting that there had been discovered in this Hyracotherium the fossil remains of the horse of millions of years ago. In the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris there are two little horses at the present time each measuring under 24 inches at the withers.
This little animal was first provided with the flat, spreading, five-toed foot suitable to the low-lying and marshy land in which he lived. His teeth and mouth, and shorter neck and jaw, were adapted to the softer and more luxuriant herbage of that time and place.
As the water left the earth, this little animal gradually adapted himself to the harder ground, the less luxuriant vegetable growth and the necessities of the situation, which required that he should travel farther for his nourishment, and that he should travel faster, to escape his enemies.