For the other practical obfervations, and the different methods of cure which are adapted to the different fpecies of dyfentery, we must refer to the treatise itself, which we can affure our medical readers will be found well worth their perufal.

Dr. Zimmerman is a moft happy and judicious obferver of difeafes. The prefent treatife is a very valuable work; it contains many important diftinctions, and ufeful remarks.-It is not drawn up, however, with that great accuracy and concifenefs, which are expected from the pen of a Zimmerman.

ART. IV. Berenger's Hiftory of the Art of Horsemanship, concluded: See our latt Month's Review, page 468.

A

LTHOUGH the art of riding ought to meet with encouragement, yet, in its fullest extent, it is proper that only diftinguished perfonages, and military gentlemen, who ride horfes of great price, fhould aim at exhibiting all the various graces which the equeftrian figure is capable of displaying. But, if Voltes and Caprioles are confeffedly beyond the fphere of common riders, every man who mounts a horfe ought, nevertheless, to know enough of the art to form the creature to correct movements, and to habituate themselves to fit eafily, becomingly, and fecurely.

To the tranflation of Xenophon's treatife, our Author has occafionally added judicious notes, to fhew the agreement or improvements of modern horfemanfhip, compared with that of the time of the Greek general. He particularly cenfures, in fevere terms, the modern ignorant, abfurd, and cruel practice of cropping the ears, and of docking and nicking the tails; thereby torturing and deforming a graceful animal, and inhumanly depriving him of the aid and relief which the natural long tail affords against the teazing of flies.

In the differtation on the ancient Chariot, among other curious particulars, Governor Pownall gives an ingenious and natural folution of the difficulty that occurs in the ancient race, when it was exhibited on a thort course, arifing from the unequal wheelings of the outer and inner chariots, if the fame order was preferved in doubling the course.

This injustice he clearly fhews to have been obviated, by their running across between the termini, or goals, alternately, in the form of a figure of eight, as thus:

by which

means an equality was preferved among the competitors, the outermoft on one wheeling being innermoft on the next, and the other chariots in proportion.

In the fecond volume, we come to the principles of horfemanfhip; and first Mr. B. directs the rider to his proper feat.

an article of the utmost importance. The following are his inftructions on this head :

The principles and rules which have hitherto been given for the horfeman's feat are various, and even oppofite, according as they have been adopted by different mafters, and taught in different countries; almoft each mafter in particular, and every nation, having certain rules and notions of their own. Let us fee, however, if art can discover nothing to us that is certain and invariably true. The Italians, the Spaniards, the French, and, in a word, every country where riding is in repute, adopt cach a pofture which is peculiar to themselves; the foundation of their general notions is, if I may fo fay, the fame, but yet each country has prescribed rules for the placing of the man in the faddle, This contrariety of opinions, which have their origin more in prejudice than in truth and reality, has given rife to many vain reafonings and fpeculations, each fyftem having its followers; and, as if truth was not always the fame and unchangeable, but at liberty to affume various and even oppofite appearances, fometimes one opinion prevailed, fometimes another dazzled; infomuch, that thofe who understand nothing of the fubject, but yet are defirous of informing themfelves by fearching it to the bottom, have hitherto been loft in doubt and perplexity.

There is, nevertheless a fure and infallible method, by the affiftance of which it would be very easy to overturn all these fyftems: but, not to enter into a needlefs detail of the extravagant notions which the feat alone has given rife to, let us trace it from principles, by fo much the more folid, as their authority will be fupported by the most convincing and felf-evident reafons.

In order to fucceed in an art where the mechanifm of the body is abfolutely neceffary, and where each part of the body has its proper functions which are peculiar to that part, it is most certain that all and every part of the body fhould be in a natural pofture. Were they in an imperfect fituation, they would want that eafe and freedom which is infeparable from grace; and as every motion which is conftrained being falfe in itfelf, and incapable of juftaefs, it is clear that the part fo conftrained and forced would throw the whole into diforder, because each part belonging to, and depending upon the whole body, and the body partaking of the constraint of its parts, can never feel that fixed point, that juft counterpoife and equality, in which alone a fine and juft execution confifts.

It is not fufficient then alone, in giving directions for the feat, to keep altogether to trivial and common rules, which may be followed or left at pleafure; we ought to weigh and examine them with kill and judgment, in order to know how to apply them properly and fuitably, as the fhape and figure of the perfon to whom we undertake to give a feat will allow; for many motions and attitudes that appear eafy and natural to one man, in another are aukward and ungraceful, whence all thofe faults and difficulties which in many perfons have been thought infuperable; whereas a little more knowledge, a little clofer attention, would convert, in the fame fubject, an aukward and displeasing appearance into an easy, natural, and graceful figure, capable of drawing the eyes even of judges

themselves.

themfelves. Indeed the objects to which a mafter, anxious for the advancement of his pupil, fhould attend, are infinite. To little purpose will it be to keep the strictest eye upon all the parts and limbs of his pupil's body; in vain will he endeavour to remedy all the defects and faults which are found in the pollure of almost every fcholar in the beginning, unlefs he is intimately acquainted with and apprifed of the clofe dependence and connection that there is between the motions of one part of the body with the reft; a correspondence caufed by the reciprocal action of the mufcles, which govern and direct them: unless, therefore, he is master of this fecret, and has this clue to the labyrinth, he will never attain the end he propofes, particularly in his first leffons, upon which the fuccefs of the reft always depends.

Thefe principles being eftablished, let us reafon in confequence of them; we shall difplay them with great force and clearness.

The body of a man is divided into three parts; two of which are moveable, the other immoveable.

The firft of the two moveable parts is the trunk or body, down to the waift; the fecond is from the knees to the feet; fo that the remaining immoveable part is that between the waist and the knees.

The parts then which ought to be without motion, are the fork or twist of the horfeman and his thighs; now, that these parts should be kept without motion, they ought to have a certain hold and center, if I may fo fay, to reft upon, which no motion that the horfe can make can disturb or loofen; this point or center is the bafis of the hold which the horseman has upon his horse, and is what is called the Seat: now if the feat is nothing elfe but this point or center, it must follow, that not only the grace, but the fymmetry and true proportion of the whole attitude depends upon those parts of the body that are immoveable.

Let the horfeman then place himself at once upon his twift, fitting exactly in the middle of the faddle; let him fupport this pofture in which the twift alone feems to fuftain the weight of the whole body, by moderately leaning upon his buttock; let his thighs be turned inward, and rest flat upon the fides of the faddle; and, in order to this, let the turn of the thighs proceed directly from the hips, and let him employ no force or strength to keep himfelf in the faddle, but trust to the weight of his body and thighs; this is the exact equilibre; in this confifts the firmnefs of the whole building, a firmnefs which young beginners are never fenfible of at firit, but which is to be acquired, and will always be attained, by exercife and practice.

'I demand but a moderate ftrefs upon the buttocks, because a man that fits full upon them can never turn his thighs flat upon the faddle; and the thighs fhould always lie flat, becaufe the fleshy part of the thigh being infenfible, the horseman would not otherwife be able to feel the motions of his horfe; I infift that the turn of the thigh should be from the hip, because this turn can never be natural, but as it proceeds from the hollow of the hip-bone; I infift further that the horfeman never avail himself of the strength or help of his thighs, because, befides that they would then be lefs fteady, the clofer he preffed them to the faddle, the more would he be lifted

C 4

above

above the faddle; and with respect to his buttocks and thighs, he ought always to be in the middle of the faddle, and fit down full and close upon it.

Having thus firmly placed the immoveable parts, let us pafs on to the first of the Moveables, which is, as I have already obferved, the body or trunk, as far as to the waift. I comprehend in the body, or trunk, the head, the shoulders, the breaft, the arms, the hands, the reins, and the waift of the horseman.

The head fhould be free, firm and easy, in order to be ready for all the natural motions that the horfeman may make in turning it to one fide or the other. It should be firm, that is to fay, ftrait, without leaning to the right or left, neither advanced nor thrown back; it fhould be eafy, because if otherwife, it would occafion a stiffness, and that ftiffnefs affecting the different parts of the body, efpecially the back-bone, they would be without eafe, and constrained."

The fhoulders alone influence by their motions that of the breaft, the reins and the wait.

The horfeman fhould prefent or advance his breaft; by that his whole figure opens and difplays itfelf: he should have a fmall hollow in his reins, and pufh his waift forward to the pommel of the faddle, becaufe this pofition correfponds and unites him to all the motions of the horfe. Now only throwing the fhoulders back, produces all thefe effects, and gives them exactly in the degree that is requifite; whereas, if we were to look for the particular pofition of each part feparately, and by itfelf, without examining the connection that there is between the motions of one part with thofe of another, there would be fuch a bending in his reins, that the horfeman would be, if I may fo fay, hollow-backed; and as from that he would force his breath forward, and his waift towards the pommel of the faddle, he would be flung back, and muft fit upon the rump of the horse.

The arms fhould be bent at the elbows, and the elbows should reft equally upon the hips; if the arms were ftraight, the confe quence would be, that the hands would be infinitely too low, or at much too great a distance from the body; and if the elbows were not kept fteady, they would. of confequence, give an uncertainty and ficklenefs to the hand, fufficient to ruin it for ever.

It is true that the Bridle-hand is that which abfolutely ought to be fteady and immoveable; and one might conclude from thence, that the left elbow only ought to reft upon the hip; but grace confits in the exact proportion and fymmetry of all the parts of the body; and to have the arm on one fide railed and advanced, and that of the other kept down and clofe to the body, would prefent but an aukward and difagreeable appearance.

It is this which determines the fituation of the hand which holds the whip; the left-hand being of an equal heighth with the elbow fo that the knuckle of the little finger, and the tip of the elbow be both in a line; this hand then being rounded neither too much nor too little, but juft fo that the wrift may direct all its motions, place your right-hand, or the whip-hand, lower and more forward than the bridle hand. It should be lower than the other hand, because if it was upon a level with it, it would reftrain or obstruct its motions; and were it to be higher, as it cannot take fo great a compafs as the

bridle.

bridle-hand, which must always be kept over against the horseman's body; it is abfolutely neceffary to keep the proportion of the elbows, that it should be lower than the other.

The legs and feet make up that fecond divifion of what I call the moveable parts of the body.

The legs ferve for two purposes; they may be used as aids or corrections to the animal. They fhould then be kept near the fides of the horse, and in a line with the man's body; for being near the part of the horse's body where his feeling is most delicate, they are ready to do their office in the inftant they are wanted.

'Moreover, as they are an appendix of the thighs, if the thigh 5 is upon its flat in the faddle, they will by a neceffary confequence be turned just as they ought, and will infallibly give the fame turn to the feet, becaufe the feet depend upon them, as they depend upon the thighs.

The toe fhould be held a little higher than the heel; for the lower the toe is, the nearer the heel will be to the fides of the horie, and must be in danger of touching his flank. Many perfons, notwithftanding, when they raife their toe, bend and twift their ankle, as if they were lame in that part. The reafon of this is very plain; it is because they make ufe of the mufcles in their legs and thighs, whereas they thould employ only the joint of the foot for this purpofe; a joint given by nature to facilitate all the motions of the foot, and to enable it to turn to the right or left, upwards or downwards.

Such is, in fhort, the mechanical difpofition of all the parts of the horfeman's body. I will enlarge no farther upon a fubject treated on already fo amply by every writer; it is needlefs to write what has been already handled. I have had no other design in this chapter, than to give an idea of the correfpondence that there is between all the parts of the body, becaufe it is only by a just knowledge of this mutual relation of all the different parts, that we can be enabled to prefcribe rules for giving that true and natural feat, which is not only the principle of juftnefs, but likewife the foundation of all grace in the horfeman."

Mr. B. then treats of breaking colts to the bitt and faddle, and of the feveral exercifes and airs proper to be taught them: and we were particularly pieafed to find him occafionally recommending gentle treatment, and cautioning the rider against paffionate corrections. There is great addrefs required in breaking and exercifing a horfe with judgment; and it is to be lamented when he falls into inconfiderate and brutish hands. Such teachers, if a horfe does not at once comprehend and obey what is required, will ufe him unmercifully; and thus both teacher and scholar are equally rendered incapable of knowing what they are about. On the contrary, a cool judicious mafter will take care to difcompofe himself and the horse as little as poffible. In the manege, as in every other art, there are many circumstances to be attended to, and as our confiderate Author obferves, the disobedience of a horse does not always fpring f.on obftinacy or reftiveness: a conftitutional

unfitness