STUD BOOK. 101 



bones and sinews, depend greatly upon the quality of the 

 food with which they are supplied. That which is conducive 

 to the production of fat must be rejected; for, although there 

 is not any kind of food which is convertible into muscle 

 which will not at the same time produce fat, there are many 

 circumstances which render different kinds more abundant 

 with the elements of either substance. This is a wise ordina- 

 tion of nature, for to a certain extent, fat is essential to the 

 health and the motive powers of the animal, but in excess it 

 is detrimental On this point circumspection and experience 

 are valuable acquirements to regulate the condition. "When 

 a horse is in a manifest state of plethora, it is a certain indi- 

 cation that the food which he receives abounds too copiously 

 with elements conducive to the production of the adipose 

 substance. It will sometimes happen that a horse does not 

 generate a sufficiency of fat; this may arise from indispo- 

 sition, the bad quality of the food, or its not being given 

 in sufficient quantities. 



There are certain laws of nature indispensable to animal 

 life, certain functions which must be supported. Physiolo- 

 gists inform us that the nourishment of the body is derived 

 from the ingredients of the blood, two of the principal of 

 which are serum and fibrine. The serum, when condensed 

 or coagulated, forms albumen, the restorative element of fat 

 and muscular fibre; the fibrine contained in the blood con- 

 tributes largely to the formation of muscle or flesh. Animal 

 and vegetable fibrine and albumen are preciselv similar, and 

 unless they form component parts of the food the animal will 

 waste away. Fat, muscular fibre, and certain other sub- 

 stances, composing the animal frame, are constantly undergo- 

 ing the process of exhaustion, through the effect of oxygen, 

 which is taken into the system every moment of life by means 

 of the organs of respiration. But no part of that oxygen re- 

 mains in the body; it is expelled in the form of carbon and 

 hydrogen, by exhalations from the skin, and the ordinary 

 evacuations. The expenditure of carbon and hydrogen is in- 

 creased by labor or exercise in an equal ratio as the number 

 of exhalations are accelerated by that exercise. By this pro- 

 cess the fat and muscular fibre are constantly in a state of 

 exhaustion and renewal, and are supposed to be thoroughly 

 renewed in the course of six or seven months; dependent, 

 however, upon the amount of labor, and the uninterrupted 

 health of the animal. The more expeditiously this renova- 

 tion of the system takes place, the more perfect will be the 

 condition of the subject. It is therefore evident that the nu- 



