46 Woims, 



the absurd and vulgar prejudices, which exist respecting them — 

 The ignorant surprise of Farriers (observes Mr. Clarke) on finding 

 Dots in the stomachs of Morses, has often occasioned the death of 

 the animal to be attributed to them, although it is certain that but 

 few Horses on our commons can escape them. Moreover I cannot 

 help thinking that Mr. Clarke has himself invalidated the force of 

 his own opinion, as to the extreme purity of the Bots' food, by ^- 

 knowledsring- that on dissection its intestine is found to contain a 

 yellow or greenish matter, which must be derived from tlie colour of 

 the Horse's food. — If, therefore, the Bots be capable of converting 

 any part of the food of the Horse, which has not been changed into 

 Chyme, into their own nourishment, it will follow as a natural infe- 

 rence, that they ought »ot, in this point of view, to be considered 

 such dangerous enemies to the Horse, as even Mr. Clarke himself 

 seems inclined to allow them to be. — But the more common and plau- 

 sible prejudice, respecting the noxiousness of Bots to the Horse, is 

 founded, not so much on the opinion of the quantity of nutriment 

 which they rob him of, as upon the notion of the irritation and fatal 

 f^pasms, which they are supposed to be the occasional cause of, in 

 the stomach of this Animal. An opinion, which I cannot help con- 

 sidering, not merely hypothetical, but also as in some degree at 

 variance with most of the facts, connected with this very interesting 

 subject, Avhich have hitherto been investigated, upon truly Philoso- 

 phical principles. — But whilst I assert thus much, I am free to con- 

 fess, that even the Physiologist or Anatomist, might naturally 

 enough (at first blush) feel inclined, to give into some of the popular 

 erroneous notions, on this subject, particularly on finding immense 

 clusters of the Bots near the Pylorus, and more especially on observ- 



