330 -Food. 



upon by the stomach/ as a digesting orgaiij but the sudden filling' 

 of this viscus, in comparison of that gradual distention which 

 the eating of dry food occasions, will have the effect of disposing 

 the animal to sleep, which is highly favourable to the digestive 

 process ; or, in such animals as do not sleep, of inducing a state 

 of quiescence, approaching that of sleep, which, in them, is 

 equally favourable to the digestion of their food. This is a most 

 impoita;nt point, and must operate strongly in favour of the system 

 lof giving cooked provender to working Horses; and is one 

 reason why several of those Mr. Curwen employs in his Collie- 

 ry, which, when he purchased them, were skeletons, and sup- 

 posed to be fairly worn out with labour and old age, not only soon 

 became fat, but remained in good condition six years afterwards, 

 notwithstanding the severity of the labour which they continued to 

 perform. There cannot be the least question, indeed, but that this 

 system of feeding will materially contribute to protract the lives of 

 working Horses, and enable them, at the same time, to perform a 

 greater quantity of labour. The teeth of Horses so fed, will, in fact, 

 be scarcely called into action, and an old Horse, whose general con- 

 stitution is sound, will, in this respect, be perfectly on a par with a 

 young or middle-aged one ; for the bolus, on account of the 

 state of the food, will be ready for being Swallowed, almost at 

 the instant the Horse takes it into his mouth, and thus little or no 

 sahva will be requisite to be mixed with it. 



The fattening effects of food thus prepared, on Mr. Curwen's 

 worn-down Horses, proves I think, almost to a demonstration, that 

 the saliva does not perform so essential a part, in the process of 

 digestion, as gome have been inclined to imagine. Whether Horses 



