We may quote another instance of the efficacy of this method, which is reported from Paris by M. Camille.
Fig. 262.—Electric apparatus for checking vicious horses.
“Many experiments have been made upon horses which had been most difficult to shoe, and in each case we have succeeded when the electric apparatus has been put in requisition. One horse, in particular, nothing could subdue. He kicked and bit and jumped about in such a manner as to render all approach impossible. We had recourse at length to M. Defoy’s apparatus, and after the first application, and without any great difficulty, we were able to raise the animal’s feet; but after a second lesson we were permitted to shoe him without his offering the slightest resistance. He was completely subdued.”
M. Defoy recently made the experiment with a very dangerous animal, which he stopped instantaneously in full gallop (see fig. 262). It may be remarked that the application of the current is not sufficiently strong to stop the horse too suddenly. It merely causes a very unpleasant sensation—he is not stupefied nor galvanized by the electricity. The narrator has felt the shock applied without inconvenience, and the conclusion arrived at is, that this method of employing electricity is far superior to the violent and inhuman treatment so often employed to break horses, which renders them subsequently sulky and vindictive.
M. Defoy has completed an electric bit and an electric stick quite as ingenious as the electric rein. The modus operandi is simple and effective, the wires being insulated by leather, and terminating at the extremities of the stick. The current is induced, as before, by a small magneto-electric machine.
Electric Time Ball.