144 MODERN FARRIER. 



and gives a general tone of health and spirit to the 

 whole animal machine. Upon this ground, there- 

 fore, the necessity of attending to the proper means 

 of ventilation, in the construction of the stable, must 

 be sufficiently evident.' 



It is absurd to expect a horse should prove vigor- 

 ous and healthy that is condemned to live in a close 

 stable, and to breathe a contaminated atmosphere. 

 This inconvenience will destroy even the strongest 

 constitution of a horse ; and it is probable that the 

 constant breathing of a hot foul air is the principal 

 cause of broken-wind. It likewise renders the horse 

 liable to fever, languor, and loss of appetite. It 

 exposes him to all those external complaints that 

 arise from obstructed perspiration, as rheumatism, 

 tumours in the glands, farcy, grease, and eruptions 

 of the skin. But the danger is much greater when 

 the perspirable matter is thrown upon the lungs, 

 and produces coughs, inflammations, and consump- 

 tions ; or, by affecting the brain, induces the stag- 

 gers and epilepsy. 



The value of fresh air is now better understood 

 than formerly. It is computed that a man renders 

 a gallon of air unfit for respiratioii after he has 

 breathed in it for the space of one minute ; and Dr. 

 Hales found that he could not live half a minute 

 without uneasiness in seventy-four cubical inches of 

 atmospheric air : how large a quantity then of air 

 would be rendered unfit for respiration in the same 

 time by a horse, whose lungs are considerably larger 

 than a man's ? But a hot, damp, moist air is not 

 only extremely pernicious to the health of horses, 

 but destructive to the furniture of every kind. 



The free admission of li^ht into stables is nearly 

 of as much consequence as that of air. It is a very 

 erroneous opinion which is maintained by some 

 grooms and stable-keepers, that horses feed best in 

 the dark. These animals naturally love the light, 

 and are much more cheerful and spirited in stables 



