Horton, Samuel

DANA, born at Pomeroy, O., Jan. 16, 1844; graduated at Harvard, (1864), and at Harvard Law School (1868); although practicing law, much of his time has been spent in Europe in the investigation and study of monetary questions. He was secretary of the International Monetary Conference at Paris, in 1878; and delegate from the U. S. to the Conference of 1881. He has published: Silver and Gold and their Relation to the Problem of Resumption; The Silver Pound and England's Monetary Policy since the Restoration; Silver in Europe, . Hot Springs, in North Carolina, a post-village of Madison co., on L. R. & H. S. and Southern R.Rs. Pop. (1897) 710. Hot-Air Engine. An engine in which the exp an sion of heated air is used as the motive power. There have been many efforts to make such a source of power practically useful. Unsucce ful attempts were made early in the nineteenth century by Sir George Coagley and others, and in 1816 Rev. Dr. Stirling, a Scotch inventor, patented an engine which attracted attention. An improvement on it was patented in 1827, and other improvements in 1840. Laubereau and Belou, in France, produced other inventions, while the U. S. inventors include Eric on, Wilcox, Roper, Shaw, Rider and Merrill; all of them producing machines of some utility in practice, that of Eric being most generally accepted. The principal advantage of the Fig . 2931.-тHE HORSE IN MOTION, AFTER INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS BY MUYBRIDGE. began in the importation to Philadelphia of the English thoroughbred, Me enger, in 1788. This was a gray stallion, of good pedigree, who was 8 years old when imported. He was used in breeding for twenty years, the trotting instinct appearing in nearly all his descendants, which became widely spread, and have transmitted the Me enger blood to almost all trotters of merit in America. The first recorded public trotting was in 1818, when the gray gelding Boston Blue was matched to trot a mile in 3 minutes. This feat was then deemed impo ible, but he won, though his time was not recorded. From that time the breeding and training of trotting horses increased, and in time attained the prominence above mentioned. At the present day the leading families are the Hamble ton i ans, the Mambrinos, the Bashaws, the Clays, the Stars, the Morgans, the Black Hawks, the Blue Bulls, the Canadians, the Gold Dusts, and the Royal Georges, partly traceable to Me enger, partly from other stocks. In some cases trotters of great speed have appeared which cannot be traced to any of the families named. There are many large establishments for breeding trotters at the present day, all of them extensive in acreage, on several of them a hundred or more brood mares and a number of stallions being kept. Very large prices are frequently paid for young animals, solely on the basis of their pedigree; while for matured trotters such prices have been paid as $40,000 for Smuggler, and long prices for many others, while later animals have been held at $100,000 and more. Since the early days of American trotting the advance in speed has been rapid. For a long time after the performance of Boston Blue the races were generally under saddle and for long distances, 3 miles being a popular length. The best record at this distance is that of Dutchman, who trotted 3 miles under saddle in 7 m. 32% s. Mile records were those of Edwin For rest, of 2.31% in 1834, and Lady Suffolk, of 2.26% in 1843. Since 1850 the favorite style of race has been mile heats in harne , "best three out of five," and most of the races are of this character. The horse draws a sulky, often weighing le than 40 pounds, while the required weight of the driver and his blanket Iowa, in 1890. The one long turn proved faster than the short turns of the oval track, sufficient to make a distinction in records, a record on a kite track standing lower in estimation than one on the regulation oval. Under the controlling influence of the National Trotting A ociation, and its offshoot, the American Trotting A ociation, there has been a considerable increase of tracks and breeding farms, the trotters and pacers which have made a record of le than 2.30 being now considerably over 10,000. In 1892 the pneumatic tire of the bicycle wheel was applied to the very light, low wheeled sulkies which had come into use, with such satisfactory results that it soon came into general favor, it reducing friction, especially at the turns, and enabling a horse to reduce his mile record from 3 to 5 seconds. For many years 2.10 was thought to be the limit of speed in harne . Several dozen trotters and pacers might be named that have come within that speed. In running races the low record of 1.35% has been made.