268 Exercise. 



the materials of which they are composed.) what the late Dr. Wm. 

 Hunter used to say of the custom of taking- red lavender drops, 

 which the ladies of his day that were nervous and low-spirited, used 

 perpetually to have recourse to; that it is but a sort of fashionable 

 apology or substitute for dram-drinking*. 



For, both these compositions are nearly of the same kind, each 

 containing either a large quantity of spices, or volatile oil of spices, (the 

 small quantity of Alkohol, in the tincture of lavender, serving no other 

 purpose, than that of blending the oil in the mixture,) and these dif- 

 fusive stimulants, being frequently thrown into the stomach, must, 

 for the reasons which have been adduced, eventually render it inca- 

 pable of converting the food into chyme. Thus, as it is with spirit 

 drinkers, (who are proverbially little eaters,) so it is with Horses that 

 are accustomed to get cordial balls at the discretion of grooms ; they 

 become languid, faint, and disinclined to eat after smart exercise, and 

 after severe labour, they refuse their food altogether ; and then it is, 

 that these inveterate doctors, who generally sleep with Taplin under 

 their pillow, fly to their favourite remedy, and, thinking to dislodge 

 the enemy by means of it, they keep up a sort of running lire, until, 

 as I have before said, some organ essential to life becomes inflamed, 

 and the contest between death and the physician, is speedily decided 

 in favour of the former. 



It is a fact, however, that Horses may not only become passive, 

 involuntary debauchees, by the custom of having cordials, thrust 

 or poured down their throats, but may actually be brought to be 

 fond of ardent spirits. 



For, I have heard of a well authenticated instance, in the north of 

 Ireland, of a Morse belonging to a common carrier, who goes daily 



