264 Exercise. 



this instance, may not be rendered subservient to some useful ends. 

 Let us, in fact, apply some of these common familiar circumstances, 

 to the case of Horses kept in stables ; and, if I mistake not, some 

 important practical inferences, may be safely drawn from their ap- 

 plication. ■ 



For, though the sum and substance of these remarks, are in every 

 one's mouth, almost indeed, in the shape of proverbs, it is, neverthe- 

 less, equally certain, that people in general, do not seem capable of. 

 drawing proper inferences, from every-day facts. 



For instance, who is there that would not readily admit the truth 

 of the following proposition, viz. that the same degree of exer- 

 tion of the muscles which would be performed with ease, and 

 would contribute to the health of an animal accustomed to daily regu- 

 lar exercise, would not only suddenly occasion fatigue, but probably 

 end in death, if made by another which had for a long time previously 

 remained in a state of indolence and inactivity ? 



No man would be found to express any surprise, if he were in* 

 formed that a pugilist of first celebrity, had been worsted in combat 

 by a mere tyro in the art of boxing, provided he was informed, 

 that the former had been for a long time out of practice, had been liv- 

 ing an indolent life, and indulging in the use of gross food ; whilst 

 the latter had been living sparingly on nutritious diet, and subjecting 

 himself to that regular daily discipline, which prize-fighters are 

 known to submit to. Nothing, however, is more common, than to meet 

 among the same description of persons who would think and argue 

 justly on the two cases which I have put, many who would not hesitate 

 to take a Horse out of a stable where he had been standing, perhaps, 

 for a wee]:, comparatively without motion, and ride him thirty or 



