HIDEBOUND. 115 



'Very forcible idea of poverty mhot\\ food and 

 raiment. The horse is generally languid, 

 dull, heavy, and weak ; his excrement is 

 dark, foul, and offensive ; he sweats much 

 upon very moderate exertions ; then his coat 

 stares, the hair turns different ways (which 

 in its effluvia is disagreeable), and affords 

 evident proof of weakness and debilitation. 

 The cause requires very little animadver- 

 sion, and it bears the face oi poverty (in food 

 and attention) upon every trait of its coun- 

 tenance. 



Bad food and want of stable care are, in ge- 

 neral, the only probable reasons that can be 

 assigned for this complaint, or defect. Long 

 lank grass in low swampy land in autumn, 

 and musty hay or bad oats at any season, 

 may in some degree allay the hunger, but 

 not gratify the appetite ; for, being in itself 

 destitute of the effect and quality of superior 

 food, no nutritiv^e contribution can be con- 

 veyed for the generation of blood or forma- 

 tion of fiesh. The sources for the supply of 

 chyle being thus obstructed, the lymphatics 

 are deprived of their due proportion of nu- 

 tritive fluid that should pass through theie 



I 2 



