218 Cloathing, 



frequently been called upon> by people who iiave either been igno- 

 rant of, or desirous of overlooking many of the acts that have 

 been mentioned, to account for the healthy appearance and prodigi- 

 ous exertions of hunters and racers, though it is well known that 

 Cloathing is reckoned an indispensable part of the system of their 

 management. 



To enquiries of this kind I answer, that no man but he who is 

 enabled from his previous studies and habits to reason upon the 

 phoenomena of health and disease, can possibly form a correct esti- 

 mate of the number of complaints amongst Horses which spring- 

 solely from the injudicious methods in which they are commonly 

 treated. Neither ought we to overlook the effect which custom has, 

 in enabling- the bodies of men and animals to resist for a time, the in- 

 fluence of the most noxious sources of disease. With Horses more- 

 over, it very commonly happens, that there is the appearance of 

 health, when the foundation of disease is laid, and the astonishing 

 rapidity with which the inflammatory diseases of pampered Horses 

 run ther course, is to be attributed, beyond all doubt, in great 

 measure to the prevalence of the custom of cloathing them. Hence, 

 one's ears are for ever dinned with complaints of the con- 

 duct of dealers, who are frequently charged with having sold 

 Horses that were rotten, whose grease became melted in a few days 

 after the purchase, with a great deal moie of such kind of senseless 

 jargon, upon which the changes are for ever rung, in order to ac- 

 count for the sudden death of such as have been put to severe work, 

 or exposed to great vicissitudes of temperature, soon after they have 

 been made up for sale> 



