ADVANTAGES OF CLIPPING 227 



absolutely and indispensably necessary to the pro- 

 duction of a fine coat : cleanliness, friction, and atten- 

 tion to the general health — aU comprised in good 

 grooming — contribute to this condition of the hair ; 

 but the principal, the essential agent is heat, either 

 generated by warm clothing or conveyed by natural 

 or artificial temperature. To explain the operation 

 of heat upon the skin and coat, it must, in the first 

 instance, determine an unusual flow of blood to it, 

 and probably increases the circulation of the cutaneous 

 system ; the natural consequences of which are an 

 augmentation of its secretions, among others of the 

 perspirable fluid, and of the unctuous or oleaginous 

 matter that pervades the hair : this gives a renewed 

 suppleness to the skin, and a kindly feel and gloss to 

 the coat. Without the agency of heat, then, it is 

 absolute nonsense to talk of making horses look well 

 in their coats. A strong sympathy," however, adds 

 Mr Percivall, " exists between the skin and the ali- 

 mentary canal ; and we might ad infinitum bestow our 

 labour on the former without effect, unless we were at 

 the same time to direct our attention to the latter." 



Now, although Mr Percivall afterwards insists on 

 the necessity of well-ventilated stables, he com- 

 pletely bears me out in my assertion at the com- 

 mencement of my labours on this interesting subject 

 — " that no horse can look well in a cold stable ; 

 neither can any hunter be in blooming condition 

 without the use of alterative ^ medicines ; and that, by 



^ The Revising Editor has a profound respect for most of Nimrod's 

 remarks, but fails to agree with the author when the latter expresses 



