PHYSIC. 269 
set content themselves with the free admission of a current of cold air to 
the skin. Time must determine which of these plans is the best, but I am 
told on excellent authority, that they have all been tried with advantage. 
The fact is that when the skin is sweating freely under the Shiels. of 
heat, and before its vessels are beginning to flag in their action, cold in 
any shape may be applied, so long as it is not continued long enough to 
reduce the pulse below its sien al standard. Again, there are some 
grooms, who, after they have applied cold water, return the horse to the 
bath for a few minutes, the air in it bemg reduced to about 100° of 
Fahrenheit, and on bringing him out, take him at once to his box or stall, 
when he is dressed as ‘usual, till he is perfectly dry, after which he is 
clothed and fed. 
AS MAY NATURALLY BE EXPECTED, “the stable mind” is very much 
agitated by this innovation on established usages. On the one hand, it is 
argued by the thick-and-thin supporters of the bath, that, with the aid of 
walking exercise alone, and without a single gallop, a nares may be got 
into perfect condition, ‘either for the racecourse or the hunting-field. I 
have been told by a gentleman whose authority is fairly to be “relied on, 
that he has ridden a paulecnl of horses thus prepared, in the front ranks 
of the crack countries, and that he never was so well carried in his life. 
None of them were galloped, except by himself; and until the season 
(1860-1) began, not one of them had been taken off a walk, as far as he 
knew, and he said he had the greatest confidence in his groom. On the 
other hand, the opponents of the bath hold that it only removes fat and 
fluids of all kinds, and that fast work must be given to the same extent 
as without it, the additional sweat produced by the former exhausting the 
horse very materially, to the prejudice of his condition. As far as my own 
opinion goes, I am inclined to believe that the truth lies between these 
opposite “extremes ; and that though a horse may be made light and airy 
by means of the bath and walking exercise alone, his muscles cannot 
be braced and rendered bigger, as they are by actual fast work. In- 
credible as it may appear, I have been told on very high authority, that a 
horse sweated twice, or even three times in the week, will do as much 
work, and as fast too, as if he had not gone through the process. If the 
bath has removed all fat and humour, he will not sweat in his gallops ; 
and if any of either is left, it will do him no harm to get rid of it. In- 
deed, after all, the difference from the old plan of sweating in the stable 
without exercise is not very great in principle; and that was always 
found to be of service when the legs or feet were unsound. Under that 
plan, the horse was heavily clothed, and being just gently trotted, was 
taken back to his box, loaded with more clothes until he sweated freely, 
and was thus relieved of his fat without being galloped. 
PENYISIC: 
IN MY PREVIOUS REMARKS I have alluded to physic as necessary for the 
purpose of getting rid of the food which the horse may have been taking, 
before he comes ‘into the stable, without injury, but the effects of which 
are somewhat in opposition to the condition required for hard work. In 
addition to this object, however, physic is given with several other pur- 
poses in view ; but these may be said to bring it within the province of 
the veterinarian rather than of the groom. Thus, in the horse recently 
brought up from grass, it will often be necessary to expel worms; and 
though the experienced groom may be able to do this without risk, yet 
