MODERN FARRIER. ' 14S 



ryijig a tube of six inches diameter from the centre 

 of the ceihng through the roof. The importance of 

 ventilation is very clearly and simply explained by 

 a modern writer in the following words : 



' The effluvia of animal bodies, like all the other 

 excretions, is constantly running into a putrefactive 

 state, and this must point out very forcibly the ne- 

 cessity of a proper degree of ventilation in stables, 

 especially when it is considered that the dung and 

 urine add greatly to the evil. But the desire of 

 giving a horse a fine coat in winter induces those 

 who have the care of him to keep the stable as hot 

 as possible, by excluding to the utmost of their 

 power the external air. As far as appearance goes, 

 this custom certainly has the desired effect ; bvit the 

 consequences are, that the animal is rendered more 

 delicate, and more liable to catch cold whenever he 

 happens to stand in a colder situation than that to 

 which he is accustomed. Stables that are kept hot 

 and not sufficiently ventilated are always extremely 

 damp. This arises from the breath and the vapour 

 of the horse's body becoming condensed on the sur- 

 face of the walls, and running down them in a liquid 

 state. 



* When this moisture has remained for a certain 

 length of time, it acquires an unpleasant and sickly 

 smell, and which must be peculiarly offensive to an 

 animal destined in a state of nature to be surrounded 

 with pure and w^holesome air. In a state of health 

 a certain evaporation from the surface of the body is 

 constantly going on. This is called the insensible 

 perspiration. This vapour is absorbed by the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere, and the quickness or slowness 

 of the absorption will be in proportion to the change 

 which the air undergoes by circulation. Thus if 

 I the horse be exposed to the open air, the evapora- 

 tion is much more rapid than when he is confined 

 in the stable. This evaporation unloads the vessels 

 of the skin, invigorates the circulation of the blood. 



