138 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



a yellow tinge predominates, it may be inferred that 

 the digestive organs are affected, — every body has 

 noticed this in a man subject to the jaundice — the 

 same rule applies to the horse. 



If an excess of tears should be observed, it denotes 

 a general debility of the organ, and should occasion 

 a more than usual scrutiny. 



But the principal object is to ascertain if the sen- 

 sibility of the eye is affected : this is discovered by 

 carefully noticing whether the pupil expands and 

 contracts to a perceptible extent on approaching the 

 light. London stables are usually dark, and when 

 the horse is examined in the stable, the pupil, if 

 sound, will of course be large : when he is led out of 

 the stable, it will contract so as to exhibit a sensible 

 difference. If there is no essential difference be- 

 tween the stable and the yard, as is often the case 

 when the latter is roofed over, it will be expedient to 

 bring the horse into the open street, and then, by 

 closing the eye-lids with the hand, to observe whe- 

 ther on withdrawing it, the dilated pupil perceptibly 

 contracts. To make this observation successfully, 

 implies frequent practice ; but this is easily acquired 

 by prevailing on some friend to close his eye two or 



