70 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



pheric air was the very pabulum of animal existence ; 

 that it is contrary to nature and nature's laws to 

 breathe any other — I should listen to it all, unable to 

 answer him ; yet I should say to my groom, don't 

 mind what the philosopher says ; stop up every crevice 

 in the stable, taking care only that there be a pipe or 

 two to take out the foul air. Never mind the fresh 

 air, enough of that will find its way through the key- 

 hole, but let there be a vent for that which is fetid. 

 It is not in compliance with the, prevailing fashion of 

 the times that I speak this language. Were my object 

 to keep a horse merely in a state of convalescence, I 

 should keep him in a cool stable ; but if I want to 

 prepare him to follow a pack of fox-hounds, with a 

 man upon his back determined to ride by the side of them, 

 I must keep him in a warm one. Why this is so I cannot 

 exactly prove ; but that does not alter the case : my 

 argument is the vulgar one of experience ; " seeing 

 is believing ; " and we might as well reject the truth 

 of geometry, because we may be unable to comprehend 

 the higher branches of it, as deprive ourselves of the 

 effect because we are ignorant of the cause. 



" Felix qui potuit verum cognoscere casuam." 



We are all, however, wise after experience ; and a 

 man should be committed for contumacy who will 

 not believe what he sees. 



I have always thought that there is a striking analogy 

 between a horse and a man, as far as their condition is 

 concerned. Each enters on his training with physic, 

 and concludes it with severe work ; each is at his best 



