FEEDING. 31 



the parties, lofes flefh, becomes dull and heavy 

 in the ftable, languid in adion, fickly in coat, 

 and foul in excrement, doomed to a courfe of 

 purgativesy then diuretics -y and, laflly, a tedi- 

 ous adminiftration of alteratives, as fickly and 

 unfound ! And all for what ? — becaufe the poor 

 emaciated animal, being deftitueof the powers 

 of fpeech, could not better inform his perfe- 

 cutors than by his emphatical and milinter- 

 preted looks, that his hay was mujly^ and con- 

 fequently laying the foundation of many difor- 

 ders. For, being thus deprived of more than 

 half his fupport, the trifling quantity he did 

 take (being againft the difpofition ^nature 

 and appetite) afforded little nutriment; nor of 

 courfe could, when fourteen pounds of hay 

 only had perhaps pafled the inteftinal canal in 

 four days, inftead of fifty-fix; the accuflomed 

 and proper proportion being rated at fourteen 

 pound for twenty-four hours, where horfes are 

 regularly corn fed. To bring this defed in the 

 quality and quantity of this part of the aliment 

 home to every comprehenfion, let any reader 

 conceive the idea (or try the experiment) of 

 fitting down with an excellent appetite (after a 

 more excellent chafe) to a beef fteak nearly 

 approaching putrefa^io7i^ with no fauce but 



hunger^ 



